Demon's Barbecue
by myboygeorge
Summary: The morning after her first red-carpet event, Andrea Brick gets a dose of self-confidence in a rather unusual way. Rated M for language and sexual/sensual content.
1. The Dressing Process

Andrea stood in front of her mirror, buck naked on a Sunday afternoon. She'd just returned from the salon and was running her hands over her body as she reveled in the silky texture of her skin. It bugged her that however much she exercised - at least an hour a day on her recumbent bike for cardio, weight-loss and physical fitness - she could never seem to lose that little lip of flesh between her navel and her mound. She never liked that word but it always seemed appropriate in these circumstances, as it was forever puffy looking to her mind. It occasionally made her feel shy about wearing a tiny-bottomed bikini, that she would look like a trannie or something ridiculous like that.

_Don't go there_, she told herself sternly, _tonight is all about looking awesome and feeling great about yourself_.

With this little lecture in mind, she pulled on her lacy white thong, then the shape-holding Spanx over top of those. Once she was home later, once she ditched the Spanx, Daniel would get a total charge out of seeing her in little more than lace and her wedding rings.

Andrea smiled at herself, running her hands through her bobbed red hair. She'd let it grow out from her pixie-cut after making her donation to the Cancer Society of New York for medical wigs and it was now chin length and flipped out at the tips so she had burnished red angel wings framing her face. It made her smoky grey eyes all the more mesmerizing, Andrea thought as she dabbed on mascara, eyeliner, muted tones of lip colour. She knew Sloan wouldn't appreciate the make-up job she'd prefer to do for a red carpet event but then, Andrea knew it would make more of an impact since all nine of the models plus Sloan were going to stay with the theme of their upcoming photo shoot and keep their looks as natural as possible.

Andrea slipped on the nude-coloured lace bra, then went to the bed and unzipped her dress, delivered the day before from Van Valken Tailors. She sighed dreamily as she looked at it - a crisp snowflake silk that would set off her eyes and hair; it had a bateau neckline similar to her wedding dress and slicked from the bust down to her hips, where the material was gather in a side-knotted sarong-style, the longest point of the diagonal cut skirt sitting at her right knee and a sparkly crystal brooch pinned at her hip.

She slipped it on, twisted back and forth and smiled. No pantie lines, and no back-fat rolls. Her body looked like a lush, curvy vision - it was exactly how she wanted to look for this event.

Next came the shoes, peep-toe three-inch stilettos in silver to match the brooch and Andrea tottered around in them a little to make sure that the gel-sole inserts weren't going to slip out. They were gorgeous shoes but all night on her feet at something like this when she had to work days the next four days would be criminal on her arches.

Andrea grabbed her clutch that had everything she'd need - tickets, wallet, pocket-watch, cellphone with fully battery and camera - and headed into the living room with a spinning twirl. She struck a pose for Nessa and Heddie who were playing Pop-o-Matic Trouble with Daniel.

'So, how do I look?'

Nessa and Heddie's heads snapped up and they both gasped dramatically. 'Wow Mama!' Nessa gasped. 'You are gorgeous!'

'Thanks baby.'

'Go-shus,' Heddie agreed, not one to be left out.

'So, why are you going to this fancy party?' Nessa asked, coming over to admire her mother. She was so proud of her mama, how she looked so pretty no matter what.

'Because the magazine that sponsors the High Summer Arts Festival is having a big party to celebrate the start of the festival.'

'But why are you going?'

'Oh, you know that picture?' Andrea pointed to the eight and a half by eleven portrait of her nude and pregnant with Nessa that had been featured in Sloan's inaugural Real Live Women exhibition.

'You all nekkid, Mama,' Heddie giggled with ruby-red cheeks.

'Well, every year, Sloan does those pictures and all the women who are Sloan's models have been invited to the party too.'

'Oh, that's nice,' Nessa, ever the sweetheart, replied. 'You're gonna have so much fun!'

Andrea smiled widely, caught Daniel giving her _that_ look while their daughters fawned over her. She knew that look well, it had been in his eyes too often to miss it. 'You save that smile for later, Mister Brick,' she purred at him.

'Ewwwwww.' Heddie screw up her face, stuck her tongue out.

'What's ew, Heddie?' Daniel asked, intrigued.

'You guys are being all mushy,' Nessa replied on her sister's behalf, 'and Max says that's the first step towards baby practice.'

'No mo' babies,' Heddie declared and poked her little finger at her chest. 'I baby girl.'

'Yes you are, and there's my ride,' Andrea said as she heard the chirp of her phone indicating Meredeth's pick-up text. 'Come give me a hug, mushy ones.'

'No!' Heddie shook her head, her dark eyes bright and shining. 'No get 'mudgie. Hee.'

She put her palm to her lips and blew her mother a kiss. 'See soon, Pin-cess Mama!'

Andrea caught it, then gave Daniel a wink. 'You want to keep me smudge free too?'

'Only until you get home.'

She laughed, with the children's horrified cries of 'yicky' and 'ew ew ew' ringing in her ears as she headed downstairs to the refreshing mid-May air. Her breath caught in her chest as she saw the town-car, a sleek onyx jewel, idling by her curb. The driver opened his door and rounded the trunk to open hers, offer his hand as she slid in to avoid mishap in her shoes.

'There she is!'

Meredeth Esposito was radiant in her emerald green cocktail dress with the silver shoes almost identical to Andrea's, save for the fact that Meredeth's were slingbacks. She passed Andrea a small flute of champagne, just enough to enjoy a little toast before they arrived at their big night.

'Hey girl! You ready to party?'


	2. Red Carpet I

'This is so exciting!'

Andrea gave a happy little wiggle as she felt the limo slow down outside the DeHeere Towers. They were using the roof-top terrace for the reception and it made Andrea feel even more like royalty, as when others commented on the gorgeous views of the city she'd actually get to say she was maid of honour to one of the other models when she'd had her wedding and reception on the very same rooftop.

As Andrea peered out the tinted window like a little kid trying to see Santa at the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, Meredeth had to laugh; her friend's enthusiasm was infectious in the best possible way. 'I thought you were a member of a movie crew a couple of times in Japan, didn't you get to do the red carpet thing with them?'

'No, I didn't.' Andrea shook her head. 'I wanted my privacy which was why I'd moved across the world to begin with, to get away from my sisters and my mother who was still a raging alcoholic at the time.'

When the car stopped, Andrea actually let out a squeal. 'This is it! Oh, I'm so excited!'

'I can tell.'

Their door was opened and Andrea stepped out first, followed by Mere and to Andrea's surprise there was a huge cheer from the crowd. She knew Meredeth was considered the Jennifer Lawrence of comic-books and graphic novels but since her name didn't pop up like Richard Castle's did, it was very easy to forget her friend had won four Emmys and been nominated for seven, not to mention a whole host of other awards.

'Man, they love you,' Andrea said, smiling as she waved at the crowds.

'You too, you know. These aren't just Hollywood fans, they are here because they like the arts as a whole and that includes your pictures for Sloan. Come on.'

Meredeth looped her arm through Andrea's and ushered her towards the first reporter they had to meet with - Mitch Whalen, an old friend of Meredeth's when they'd both started out writing professionally. 'Hey Mitch, how are you?'

'Just great, Mere,' he replied in his husky voice that sounded like Harvey Fierstein with a cold. 'And Andrea Brick your lovely co-model and date for the evening?'

'That's right.'

'Your picture in the original Real Live Women exhibition was one of the most talked about from Sloan Machado's show,' Mitch said, speaking directly to Andrea, 'is there any chance one of the other model's might be doing a similar pose to celebrate a pregnancy?'

'Right now, there are no babies expected in our family, but never say never,' Andrea replied sweetly.

'And you looking beautiful by the way, who are you wearing?'

'We're both wearing Van Valkan Tailors,' she said, gesturing to herself and Meredeth, 'but her shoes are Jimmy Choo and mine are Manolo Blahnik.'

'You look great, and I think a few more of your fellow Real Live Women have arrived.'

Andrea turned and grinned when she saw Lanie and Honey-Milk walking up the red carpet, pausing for photos as well, and they even signed a few autographs before catching up to them. Honey-Milk's hair had been curled into Princess Bride ringlets and she wore icy-blue with slashes of navy criss-crossing over the bottom four inches of the tea-length silk along with navy blue Jimmy Choos too while Lanie was a stunning vision in a wine-coloured halter number that left her back totally bare from neck to lumbar. She had gone for Christian Louboutin champagne peep-toe stilettos for a contrasting look; Andrea knew her designer footwear well as it was the one indulgence she allowed herself. She would wear Old Navy and Marshall's and even Target for her everyday clothes but she'd pair them with designer, top of the line shoes.

'Hey, girl! You look so beautiful, Lanie!' she gasped, givign her friend a hug and was pleased when she felt Lanie's hand patting her between the shoulders.

'Me, you look like an angel, Andrea! Like Christina Hendricks' little sister or something,' she replied with just as much love.

'Have you gotten to give any autographs yet?' Honey-Milk asked, running her thumb over the clasp of her genuine Dooney and Bourke platinum-line clutch, a birthday gift from her husband the previous year.

'No, we haven't.'

'Come on.'

Honey-Milk grabbed Andrea's hand, hauled her over to one of the bleachers crowded with fans, actually cheering and jumping up and down in excitement. She wrapped her arm behind Andrea's waist and gave her a cuddly squeezing hug. 'Hello everyone, are you excited for another year of supporting the arts?' she asked the crowd and they went bananas. To Andrea's delight, they were actually holding out pictures from the previous year's copy of _Vanity Fair_ of her and Andrea and calling her name.

'Andrea! Andrea! Can I get your autograph!'

'Andrea! Over here! Picture!'

'Andrea! Can you sign this for me too!'

Overwhelmed in a good way, Andrea stepped forward and signed her name on a few magazines, paused for some fan pictures; she didn't even notice in the background the videographers from _E!, Entertainment Tonight, ET Canada _and _Access Hollywood_ filming her interactions with the crowd. All she saw were so many excited faces, men and women alike, and watched them tweet the photos to Meredeth and Sloan.

It was only when she felt a bright flash near her eyes that she glanced over and saw Honey-Milk taking a picture herself on the red carpet and grinning at her.

'That one's going up at work tomorrow morning,' she trilled, then looked at the crowd. 'Thanks everyone, we have to get going, we have some reporters to talk to before we go inside!'

'We love you Jenny and Andrea!' a group chorused back and sent up a wild cheer that had Andrea feeling like if she smiled any harder in sheer delight, she would crack her face in two. Of course, she also felt like she might split in two pieces herself she was so damn excited.

'Thank you!'

'Isn't that fun?' Honey-Milk hissed in an excited whisper as they headed to join their friends once more. 'Let's go find the others.'


	3. Red Carpet II

When they caught up to Lanie and Meredeth, who had in turn been joined by the remaining five models, Andrea was in total awe that such gorgeous and intelligent women were her friends. Alexis was wearing white silk as well, but instead of silver accessories, she'd gone for blue to match her eyes, while olive-skinned and green-eyed Lindsay - the newest of the Real Live Women - had gone for a bold colour like Lanie; her dress was candy-pink with amber crystals sprinkled through the skirt to match her richly-toned shoes. Dante Ferretti, she noted, a very good choice indeed.

Beckett was there, all long legs and cool doe eyes in a dusty lavender Herve Leger column dress cropped at mid-thigh and matching shoes in both colour and brand while Robina, a leggy blonde with a bombastic laugh, went for a bronze Amber Terwilligger one-shoulder that flared into a knee-length princess silhouette. Rounding things out was Lili, the exotic looking Latina with her oceans of curling black hair cascading over bare shoulders while she sported a peachy-coral spaghetti strapped dress that reminded Andrea of the bridesmaids pictures she'd seen of Meredeth and Esposito's wedding.

They were all chatting to a round, baby-faced reporter, and a voice in her head threatened to tell her she should hang back since she felt a little blip at seeing all her friends looking so amazing and she felt a little like a fire-topped marshmellow when she felt a hand reach past the bodies, grab her wrist and yank her forward. It belonged to Meredeth, apparently, who was talking to the reporter.

'Here we are, Andrea,' she said brightly. 'This is Michael Ausiello from _TVLine_, he was just asking a few questions about the and you haven't gotten to say hello yet!'

'Nice to meet you,' Andrea said to him warmly, and the man's friendly voice sounded genuinely interested as he asked her, 'I've just been talking to Meredeth about the upcoming fifth miniseries of _LadyHawk_ and she has been a little vague on giving us any scoop whether the women of RWL will make a cameo appearance in the voice cast.'

She laughed, a delay tactic she'd learned from watching interviews with Elizabeth Banks and Meredeth herself, slid her eyes to Meredeth who gave her a little wink and crooked the first joint of her index finger down, her subtle signal to give a positive answer. 'Well, nothings been set in stone yet, but I think we are going to be making an appearance at some point in the series.'

'Wonderful, it's such a great way to incorporate you into the production,' Michael replied. 'And who are you wearing?'

Andrea repeated the details of her outfit, then gave Meredeth a confused look when they moved away to walk closer to the entrance where they knew Sloan was already waiting for them inside. 'What was that all about?'

'Robina had leaked it to Michael last Thursday that the producers of the miniseries want us to make an appearance since we're going to be starting official promos in August around the same time as the exhibit opens,' Meredeth explained, 'but he had to hold on to it tonight so that he would be the only one with the scoop for tomorrow morning's press releases and publications.'

'Ah, clever girl,' Andrea said, smiling at Robina.

'Hey, this ain't just a hat-rack, my friend,' the agent replied, pointing to her head, then rubbed her hand over her stomach. 'Hope they've got good catering in there tonight. Last red carpet event I went to with one of my other clients, we both got food poisoning from bad crab salad.'

'Oh, so not cool.' Lili made a sour-puss face.

'I just tend to avoid all the hors-d'oeuvres either way then pig out on Petrilli's or Gennaro's afteerwards,' Lanie added, getting out her ticket to give to the doorman.

'Why? You don't like to eat in public at these things,' Lindsay asked, and Lanie shook her head.

'No, it's my seafood allergy. I even smell a crab puff and I'm reaching for an epi-pen.'

'It's why we do barbecue instead of clam bakes when we go to the Hamptons,' Meredeth said.

'Oh yeah, I remember that now. Duh, blonde moment. No offense, Robina.'

'None taken.'

Andrea filtered, giving her tickets to be scanned and breathlessly looking around. She'd been there for Shane and Alexis' wedding but that had been the middle of a hot summer day where they'd been the glamorous ones; tonight everyone smelled rich and important and...well, famous, she decided. Once again, as she looked around, she felt a little flash close to her eyes and saw Honey-Milk taking her picture.

'Okay, what's with you doing that?'

'Because you look so pretty and happy,' Honey-Milk said; she didn't bother adding that moments for Andrea to feel completely comfortable in her own skin around women in these kinds of situations were hard to come by. However much she'd grown in the last four years since getting her mother back and putting her tormentors in prison, she was still working on those moments when she could remind herself she was so much more than the scared little girl they'd tried to make and keep her.

'There are my shining stars!'

The women all turned and saw Sloan in her funky bohemian chic red carpet clothes approaching them from the elevator lobby - she was in black silver and hot pink, with cornea sizzling pink Chanel flats. She gave all of them a hug and pointed them towards the elevators. 'Straight to the top. I've still got a bit of press to deal with, and if any reporters ask, mine and Jeremy's wedding is in October, not last month, right?'

'Right,' Honey-Milk nodded, and sticking close to Andrea, lead them all to the elevators. 'I bet this is how Jack Dawson felt going out for dinner with Rose and Molly Brown on the _Titanic_.'

'And then our fryer's dinner on Tuesday night is the third-class steerage party. The real party,' Andrea giggled. 'Oh, but it's so pretty here.'

'It is, and you look like a million dollars.'

'Okay, you keep hitting on me like that, I may have to tell Daniel and then he'll be jealous he missed all the fun.'


	4. After Party for Two

Andrea didn't get home until nearly midnight; she'd have loved to stay to the end, but she did have to be on days and start work at eight in the morning. She crept in quietly, and set her shoes and purse down at the kitchen table; now barefoot, she crept towards her daughters' rooms and gave them each kisses with murmured promises of love and she'd tell them about it in the morning.

Just as carefully, she shoved open the door to her bedroom and felt her heart give a thump - Daniel had gone to bed naked. 'My, my, Nurse Brick,' she whispered to herself, admiring the long uninterrupted line of his leg up to his thigh to his torso and his shoulders. 'You are a hunky man.'

'Andrea?' Daniel lifted his head and turned over to see his wife, who only stood by the door and grinned. 'Hey, sweetheart! How was the party?'

'So much fun, but now there's only one party I'm interested in.' Andrea pointed at her husband's groin, and Daniel chuckled.

'Had a few cocktails did we?'

'At the party? No. Mere and I got a little bombed on the limo ride home. Wait.' Andrea frowned, caught the side of her lower lip in her teeth in a way Daniel found adorable. 'Can you still call a town car a limo?'

'I think so.'

'Okay, then Mere and I got bombed afterward in the limo.'

'My sexy little lush.'

'Hang on.'

Andrea wasn't so hammered that she didn't know how to locate her zipper or that her dress should be put on a hanger. She did find the hanger and peeled off her Spanx, flicked open the hooks on the nude-coloured lace bra. 'How do I look?'

She did a dancing little twirl and Daniel felt his body awaken, his blood rush south. 'I think you're the sexiest woman I've ever seen.'

'And the best part is when my picture's in the magazine and all the guys say, man I'd love to fuck her, you get to say I do almost every day.'

'Jesus you're funny when you're drunk,' he laughed, then flopped back on the bed, patted his lower abdomen. 'I'd love to have you right here.'

'Done.'

Andrea moved over to the bed and crawled on on top him, the thin lace of her thong rubbing against his bare skin. 'Like that?' she purred, her own blood beginning to thrum as she ground her hips against his. She closed her eyes, arched into his touch when Daniel ran his hands up and down her back before moving them around to her her front to cup her breasts; she let out a low moan when

'Andrea,' he murmured, 'I'm a little tired for actual sex, do you mind if I just go down on you instead?'

'Oh, Daniel.' She put her hand to his cheek, kissed his lips delicately. 'You read my mind.'

'You're an angel. Hold on to me.'

Daniel felt her brace her hands on his shoulders and he rolled them so that he could stroke his hands over her magnificent curves. Two beautiful babies, two of the three most precious miracles in his life, had come from this body that was all woman - lush flesh, soft skin, breasts so gorgeous and heavenly the first time he'd seen them he'd actually bit his fist to keep from howling like a wolf at the sight of her. He kissed her deeply, letting his touch drift over her body, up to her breasts where he rolled her nipples with his thumb, making her moan deeply. When he lowered his mouth to the valley between those glorious curves, ran his tongue in a single line upwards, he felt her dampen against him and knew while this wouldn't last long, it would be hot as hell.

'Andrea,' he murmured against her skin before taking the point of her breast into his mouth, making her clap her hand to her mouth to muffle her cry of ecstasy. 'Andrea, say it, baby.'

'Daniel,' she sighed, grinding her palms against his broad shoulders. 'Daniel, please. Please.'

'Please what?'

'Please.' Andrea curled up, pulled him up to kiss his lips, then moan in his ear, 'Please lick me clean, Daniel. Lick me clean.'

'Of course, my love.'

Daniel gave her nipple a single, slow flick, then kissed his way down her centre until he caught the delicate thong in his teeth and pulled downwards so the tiny scrap of lace was looped around her left ankle. He moved back up her leg, leaving a trail of hot sticky open-mouthed kisses until he found her honey-pot and began to set a pace he knew would drive her wild, licking and swirling his tongue over her slick, warm flesh. He kept his palms light on the insides of her thighs so she could stay wide open for him, something he knew would make her feel even sexier.

Andrea wasn't sure how much more she could take, and just as she felt the first shimmer of the orgasm in her body, she felt him slide two fingers between her thighs; they parted her swollen lips and he drove his tongue inside her. Andrea couldn't help herself; she let out a loud cry. 'Fuck! Daniel, oh god!'

'Easy, killer,' he chuckled, then returned to pleasuring his wife, loving the way she called him a god and begged him not to stop. Just before she could come, though, quick as lightening he moved up her body and sank himself inside her. He felt her walls clamp viciously around him, but all Daniel could see was the dreamy look in her eyes that was completely his Andrea in the throes of sexual passion given to her by him. It was a powerful thing, he thought momentarily as he felt the shift in his core and change the pace. His hands glued to her hips and he drove himself into her, hard and fast as he felt her orgasm once; he drove her up again so that when she came the second time, he was right there with her.

They lay tangled together, Daniel resting his head on Andrea's breasts while she stroked his head.

'Guess you weren't too tired after all, huh?' she murmured.

'Guess not.'


	5. Seriously Bad Morning After

'It's amazing.'

'What is?'

'Sex is the best sedative in the world.' Andrea chowed down the last of her toasted bagel with peanut butter, checked to make sure her bag for work was ready. 'I only got about five and a half hours of sleep last night, which is really like a long nap, and I feel like I slept for a day.'

'You're welcome,' Danie grinned, finishing off his coffee with a grin. 'You're going to be home around six?'

'As close to it as I can, why?'

'The girls are asking to use their family pizza night tonight instead of Friday since Friday is Rosie's birthday party.'

'Perfect.' Andrea checked her watch, nodded. 'And if I don't leave in three minutes, I'll miss the subway.'

She came over and planted a whopping kiss on Daniel's mouth, grinned at him. 'More where that came from later tonight, Nurse Brick. Love you.'

'Love you too.'

Andrea headed out the door; before she hit the subway, she pulled up the _Ledger's_ entertainment news on her Blackberry and scrolled through until she found what she was looking for - the red carpet photos from the Vanity Fair High Summer Arts Festival kick-off party. She knew it was probably shallow and beneath but damn it, she'd had so much fun the night before on the red carpet, she wanted to see if she looked as good as she'd felt. She grinned when she saw Lanie had made the list of the best dressed from their little band of heroes with Alexis and Honey-Milk getting honourable mentions.

Her finger froze on the tracker ball when she saw her picture, front and centre underneath the title _Worst Fashions of the Night. _She knew it was probably a bad idea, knew it was going against her better judgment but she clicked on the image and felt every last shred of her morning after party glow evaporate when she saw the caption beneath her image.

_Worst Dress #1: Andrea Brick, model, Real Live Women by Sloan Machado. Whoever convinced Miss Brick that a woman of her size could wear white with stilettos and look like something other than a rhino on toothpicks should be given a medal as Master April Fool's Prankster_

Andrea felt like she'd been punched in the gut as she went topside two blocks from the hospital. She found another info-tainment website, scrolled through to find that Beckett and Lindsay had made the list for the best dressed of the night there, and once again, she was reviled with an ego-destroying quip

_Worst Dress #4: Andrea Brick, model, Real Live Women by Sloan Machado. Hopefully when Miss Machado's show debuts in August, one of two things will have happened - either Miss Brick will have lost about forty pounds or Miss Machado will have discovered a magical elixir called airbrushing to get rid of the unsightly rolls on her model._

'Hey, red!'

Andrea glanced up; she'd stopped beside her favourite newsstand where she always picked up a pack of gum and the occasional magazine and its owner, Miguel Suarez, was saying hello to her. 'Hey Miguel.'

'You look distracted, _senorita_, what's on your mind?'

'Nothing,' she replied absently and picked up a copy of _InTouch_, flipped through to the fashion pics; whenever there was a major red carpet event, the print trades always stayed up late and got up early to make sure they could print photos in the morning editions. She felt her throat tighten when she saw her picture once more in the _Worst Dressed _column and an even snarkier blurb beneath it - _Someone forgot to tell Miss Brick to leave her muumuu on the beach and wear a cocktail dress to the party_.

'You sure? You look a little pale.'

'Late night of partying with some girlfriends.' Before she knew what she was doing, Andrea was picking up every last gossip rag Miguel had available, along with a packet of gum like usual. 'I'll take these.'

'Sure.' Miguel took the two twenties she offered, handed back her change. 'You try to have a good day, you hear?'

'Uh-huh.'

Andrea took off like a dart with her stack of magazines; she made it to the staff locker room and changed into her scrubs in record time so she would have time to page through the magazines. She could hear the voice in her head, one that sound dangerously close to Lanie's, telling her what she was doing was both unnecessary and unhealthy but Andrea couldn't help it. She'd been so scared this would happen, that the press would somehow turn her into a joke amongst her friends and loved ones and now her fears had come true - every last magazine she looked at had her not only as one of the worst dressed women of the night, but also singled her out from the other eight _Real Live Women_ models and used her as the poster-girl for their heinous barbs.

When she was finished with the last one, she put them all into her bag, then stood and studied herself in the mirror, turning sideways and lifting her scrubs top to examine her figure. No, she'd never be sexy-skinny like Alexis or Beckett, and she wasn't exotic looking like Lindsay, nor was she the owner of a long flowing mane of hair like Meredeth or a ballsy blonde like Robina. And she sure as hell wasn't dainty or petite like Lanie, Lili and Honey-Milk. All she saw was a pudgy, round-faced woman with dimples in places no self-respecting woman should have them and sad grey eyes.

Just where the hell did she fit in?

Sighing and closing her locker, Andrea stuffed her toes into her sneakers and went out to the main nurses' station for pre-shift meeting led by Honey-Milk. Through the entire thing she saw Honey-Milk giving her the fish eye and the moment she'd dismissed her staff, Honey-Milk pounced.

'Jesus, Andrea, you look like hell.'

'Overindulged in the limo on the way home,' she replied with a half-truth.

Honey-Milk didn't buy it for a minute but she'd known Andrea too long to push her to discuss it. 'Okay, well, I'm around if you want to talk about anything, okay?'


	6. Outrageous

'Whitney, can you check on Cale Dobbs in four-oh-four? He's been asking for solid foods but he needs a final temperature check first.'

'Sure.'

Honey-Milk was at the nurse's station, checking on pharmacy orders when she saw Andrea go walking past with a water-bottle. A quick glance of the watch told her it was time for Andrea's first break on shift, and she was usually found in the cafeteria checking out the healthy lunch specials so she knew what she wanted when it was time to eat and wouldn't waste her down-time in case she was called in for an emergency.

'Hey, Andrea,' she called to her, and Honey-Milk felt another surprise when Andrea turned and looked at her like a zombie, walked over like she was in a fugue state. 'Are you really that hungover?' she asked her friend in a lowered tone.

'No, it's not the party last night.'

'But clearly something happened,' Honey-Milk pressed her and wasn't surprised when Andrea glared at her. 'You can give me that smouldering look all you want, it's hot but it's not going to distract me that much.'

'Just please drop it.'

'Andrea-'

'Nurse Ryan?'

Honey-Milk swore in her head and turned to see the new nurse, Jupiter Crook - who named their kid Jupiter, was all she could think when she'd first met her - coming up to her with a chart in her hand. 'Yes, Jupiter, what's up?'

'I just wanted to double check I've signed this paperwork off properly, it's different procedure than my different hospital.'

Honey-Milk took the chart, scanned it over. She glanced over to see Andrea had left for some task or another and sighed; not that she was going to begrudge Jupiter for checking that she had the right information down but her timing was unwittingly atrocious.

'Yeah, it's great, Jupiter.'

'Hey, did you see this?' Jupiter shuffled forward a copy of _USWeekly_. 'You and Nurse Brick made the tabs!'

'Oh yeah?' Curious as to why Andrea wouldn't have mentioned it, Honey-Milk took the magazine and flipped it open to the best and worst dressed lists. She bristled when she saw the group photo - Andrea had been on the end beside her and they'd dliberately cut her out of the photo. 'I don't see Nurse Brick here.'

'Turn the page.'

Honey-Milk did so and felt her thighs go weak - Andrea had been deliberately cut from the group photo because her image had been given a one-third vertical slot on the following page as the headliner for the worst dressed list.

'Andrea Brick, the token fat girl of Sloan Machado's Real Live Women model troupe, is seen wearing snowflake white satin; perhaps she should have stayed the buffet as the frosted whale ice sculpture?' Honey-Milk's voice rose in disbelief and outrage with each word. She had to check herself from swearing, so she crooked a finger at Jupiter and got her to follow her into the supply closet. The moment they were there, she exploded.

'You are going to go down to the gift shop and get every shit-rag like this, do you hear me? I don't care the cost, I will pay you back. Hop-to, on the double.'

'Yes ma'am.' Jupiter fumbled a little with the door and zipped; alone, Honey-Milk took the magazine and tore out the picture of her friend, and let out a loud, pained and indignant scream of frustration, then pulled out her cellphone.

* * *

'Mami, these shelly-das gonna be so tasuh-tee.'

Meredeth smiled as she stirred the enchilada filling of refried beans and vegetables. 'I agree, baby. What comes next?'

'Ummm...answer the phone!' Max giggled when the houseline rang.

'Right you are.' Meredeth wiped her hands on her towel, picked up. 'Hello?'

Max wandered to the fridge to pick out the cheese that would go in the filling. He stopped when his mother's voice turned sharp with worry.

'Wha- Jenny? Jenn-Je...Jenny, slow down. What? You read what? Hang on.' Meredth put her hand over the microphone of the receiver, looked at Max. 'Can you please go upstairs for me buddy?'

'You up-set? You gonna use bad words?'

'Yes a lot of them.'

'Okay, tell tia Jenny it all be okay.'

Meredeth waited until her baby boy was out of earshot before she exploded. 'Jennifer, what the fuck is going on? What is this shit, Andrea is being torn up in the magazines?'

'Haven't you seen any of it yet?'

'No, I've been in the kitchen all day with Max cooking for Rosie's birthday party on Friday.'

'Go grab your laptop, have a look at some of the things they're saying.'

'Which one?'

'Go to _E! Fashion Police _first.'

Meredeth grabbed her MacBook, called up the _Critical Condition_ website, scanned through their hit-and-miss red carpet comments; what she read had her hands curling into white-knuckled fists. 'Says Joan Rivers, who the hell put Shamu in a tutu? Oh I cou- I ju-I-'

'Exactly. Every last website is like that, Mere.'

The urge to hit somthing until it shattered surely as Andrea's ego had - Meredeth didn't have to guess Andrea had read all of the fashion reviews - was so strong that Meredeth got up and paced over to the fridge, took out a slab of steak she was tenderizing and foun her culinary mace.

'Those- idiot- mother-fuckers!' She yelled with each swing down into the steak. 'Who- do- they- think- they- are! Please tell me she's ready to take names and spit bullets.'

'Mere, it's worse than that. She...she's just on autopilot, she's too far in her head-'

'And with good reason. I know how low self-esteem thinkers work, I was one until my second year of university. She'll think that they're all right since she's the common factor.'

Honey-Milk sighed. 'What do we do to help her? How do we make it better?'

'Fortunately, for us, I have a plan. Have you talked to anyone else?'

'No.'

'Good, let me call them. Here's what we're going to do.'


	7. Simmering Tempers on All Fronts

'Beckett all I'm saying is if Trini ends up with cavities in her baby teeth thanks to your son's baking, I'm sending you the dentist bill.'

'Noted,' Beckett said dryly as she shoved open the door to Lanie's autopsy theatre, held it open for Esposito. She stopped short when she saw a most unusual sight - Lanie was grumbling under her breath and stomping around the sterile room.

'Who do they think they are, talking about her like that,' she practically spat as she banged down trays and bowls, snatched up her ten-blade for sterilization.

It took Beckett three seconds to assess this was not work related, it was very very personal; she turned to Esposito and told him, 'Take a walk, Detective.'

'I'm already gone.' Esposito lifted his hands palm-side up and left the autopsy theatre so the women could have their obviously-needed summit.

Inside the autopsy room, Beckett took a step forward. 'Lanie, what the fuck?'

'Got a very disturbing call from Meredeth just a few moments ago.' Lanie looked up and the detective watched her set aside the ten-blade, wave her hand in a curt gesture. 'Come.'

Turning on her heel, Lanie stalked over to her computer, pointed at the screen like a New England Puritan accusing a witch. 'Read.'

Beckett bent to better see the small print, felt her jaw drop as she scanned the gossip site. 'By far the VF red carpet for its annual High Summer Arts Festival was RLW model Andrea Brick who appeared to be sporting a snowball look. Ice cream anyone? '

'And that's a nice one.' Lanie pointed to another tab. 'Check out MSNBC's Fasionistas Inc.'

Beckett clicked over for the new screen and immediately a white hot rage bubbled up inside as she read the blurb on Andrea aloud. 'Who knew Sloan Machado had sunk already to photographing a pig in a blanket?'

'I wanna go to their offices and...and...argh!' Lanie actually tugged on her own hair as she let out a small screech. 'I can't believe those bastards did that to her!'

'Did Meredeth say who called her?' Beckett asked quietly, a viper silently coiling up to strike.

'Honey-Milk, she said Andrea's on autopilot she looks like a fucking zombie at work.'

'Okay. Leave this with me, and try not to stab any corpses.'

'But it will make me feel a little better.'

'You're twisted, Doctor Parrish-Robbins,' Beckett told her friend, and Lanie shook her head with narrowed eyes.

'No, I'm not, I'm just very very protective of my friend.'

'Why is that?'

'Why what?'

'Why are you so protective of Andrea?' Beckett asked, intrigued to hear the answer.

'Because she is the kind of woman I wish I could be.'

This was almost as big a shock as reading the hideous comments lobbied at Andrea in the media. 'Seriously?'

'Yeah. Tall, curvy, she's bilingual, she's traveled all over the place, and most importantly, she was strong enough to patch things up with her mother.'

'Ah.' Beckett knew that was still a sore point for Lanie, that her attempts to reconcile with her mother as Andrea had were going unsuccessful. 'Well, you know she thinks the same thing of you, maybe that's why you're so well matched.'

Lanie nodded, remembering when Andrea had been twenty weeks pregnant with Nessa she'd flipped out on her, calling her a spoiled ungrateful bitch for being so unaware of her perfection. It had shaken Lanie to her very soul and she'd made a silent promise to herself that she'd never let her friend feel so...unworthy was the only word she could come up with.

'I think...no, if Andrea's not feeling happy about her body, maybe that's the wrong way to go.'

'What?'

'We're all getting our own independent photo shoots, right? What if Sloan took some really sexy shots of Andrea just for her and Daniel? Then maybe she'd see for herself how yummy she is.'

'I'm glad that we're all comfortable enough in our own skin and friendships that a conversation about our friend posing for erotic photos for her hubby doesn't phase us,' Beckett laughed.

'Katie, come on, you know what I mean.'

'I do know what you mean.' As she'd considered something similar for Castle's birth after Jojo was born, as she'd put more baby weight on with her little girl than RJ, she knew exactly what Lanie was trying to do for their crestfallen friend. 'And I think that is a great idea.'

'Well, Mere also told me what we're going to do at our fryer's dinner tomorrow for her as well.'

'What?'

Lanie relayed what Meredeth had told her, making a smile creep across Beckett's face. 'What do you think?'

'That combined with your idea is absolutely genius.'

'Yeah?'

'Yeah. And to make sure Andrea still comes, we'll call her tonight.'

'Jesus I never even thought of that,' Lanie gasped. 'Oh, good god, these comments are going to make her stop eating, aren't they?'

'No, they're not because we won't let that happen, will we?'

'No. No, won't.'

'And fryer's dinner tomorrow is a great spot to make that happen,' Beckett concluded. 'If she sees us all eating junk food and indulging, she could be persuaded to follow the crowd.'

'Or she might think look at those skinny bitches, they can eat whatever they want and never gain an ounce,' Lanie said miserably, her heart breaking for her friend that this was even a possibility. 'Kate, what do we do?'

'We be there for here, and we make her see for herself that she is sexy and wonderful just the way she is. That's what.'

The door was shoved open and Esposito stuck his head inside. 'Okay for me to come in now?'

'Yeah, you're good, Espo.'

'I heard a little of what you were talking about,' he confessed, 'and if some prick's being mean to one of our sisters, give us his address, Ryan and I will straighten him out but good.'


	8. Downward Spiral

'Hey Daniel.'

Daniel looked up from his lunch in the staff lounge, saw Honey-Milk come in with Andrea. His fork slipped from his numb hands when he saw the look on Andrea's face, it was one he hadn't seen since she'd learned of Cora and Gerry's wager on when they would break up. Daniel shot out of his chair and was pulling her close.

'Andrea, what's wrong, is it Nessa? Heddie?'

'No, it's me.'

'You?' Visions of breast or ovarian cancer flashed through his head, or some other tumour. He pulled her over to the table, sat her down as Honey-Milk quietly left. 'Andrea Darcy Hermione, you have three seconds to spit it out.'

'I'm ugly,' she said quietly, then lifted her eyes to Daniel's face. 'I'm fat and ugly.'

'Andrea.' Daniel touched his broad hand to her cheek when her misty eyes filled. 'Why...who told you that?

'_E! Fashion Police, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, MSNBC Fashionistas Inc, The Ledger, InTouch, USWeekly, and about _another twenty or so that have called me an ice whale, a rhino on toothpicks and worse.'

'What are you talking about?'

'I'm the poster child for the Vanity Fair High Summer Arts Festival kick-off party's worst dress list,' she told him, bitter tears choking her throat. 'Some magazines even cut me out of the group picture of us and singled me out as hideous and grotesque and-'

'Andrea.' Daniel put his hands on her shoulders, shoulders that shook with held-in sobs of self-loathing. 'My beautiful sweet Andrea. What did your friends say about your dress last night?'

'It was pretty.'

'Pretty?'

Andrea sighed heavily, wearily. 'Honey-Milk kept hitting on me-'

'Jenny was flirting with you?' Daniel tried to put the universal male fantasy of two women together out of his head; his wife needed him.

'In a manner of speaking, she kept telling me how hot I looked and now I see it was just a lie.'

'Andrea, do you really believe that?'

'What am I supposed to think when the entire press is telling me how repulsive I am?' Andrea sniffled, stared at her feet. 'I'm not doing it.'

'Not doing what?'

'The exhibit. I'm going to tell Sloan tonight, I'll call her when I'm off work. Then I won't have to go to fryer's dinner tomorrow either.'

'No.' Now Daniel's comforting tone took on a firmer edge. 'No, you're not doing that.'

'All due respect, it's my decision.'

'I know it is and I'm telling you that you will regret it.'

'Daniel if this is what they're like when I'm dressed, how are they going to react when they see nude photos of me?'

'And why do _they_ matter so much?' he countered. 'You know the _they_ you should be worried about.'

'You and my girls.'

'And your friends,' Daniel reminded her, 'who love you and care about you-'

'If they cared so damn much, why haven't I heard a single comforting word from them all day?'

This made him pause. 'What?'

'There's been plenty of time to check out the websites, the magazines. I haven't heard from them because deep down they really agree with those fashion critics.'

'I'm sure they have good reasons.'

'Yeah, right,' Andrea laughed sadly. 'Watch. The first time I hear from any of them will be Wednesday morning after they noticed I didn't attend their dinner.'

'What do you mean, 'their dinner', sweetheart?'

'I told you I'm not doing the photo-shoot, which means I am not going to fryer's dinner either.'

Before Daniel could open his mouth to say anything, Andrea's cellphone went off with a signal for a voice call. She looked at the Caller-ID and grimaced. 'It's Lanie. I don't want to talk to her, not after...no, I just can't do it.'

'Here.' Daniel took the phone from her, answered it. 'Hey Lanie, listen Andrea's not in the mood for a chat-'

'Put her on the fucking phone, and don't give me any of that 'not in the mood for a chat' bullshit. Andrea. Phone. Now.'

Shocked to hear the irate temper in Lanie's musical voice, he did as he was told and handed Andrea back her phone. 'Tread lightly, she is super-pissed.'

Andrea nodded, took a few steps away from Daniel for privacy; he knew she would be back in his arms in a few seconds once she ditched her so-called friend.

'Lanie, listen-'

'No, you listen to me, Andrea Darcy, don't you fucking listen to those idiots. They are dead wrong.'

'Says you.'

'Yeah, says me. So do Meredeth and Honey-Milk and Katie, everyone who loves you.'

'Then why are you the only one who's called me to say a goddamn thing?'

On her end of the phone, Lanie closed her eyes. They'd been calling each other and planning but no-one, it seemed, thought to actually talk to Andrea and ask the woman what she herself needed. 'We're going to fix that, okay? Tomorrow night, I'm picking you up to go to fryer's dinner and we'll have a good chat.'

'Tomorrow. What, you're busy tonight?'

'No, I just thought you might like to spend the evening with your husband and your daughters.'

'Oh.' A little shamefaced, Andrea nodded though she knew Lanie couldn't see it. 'Yeah, but I don't want you to miss out.'

'Miss out?'

'Fryer's dinner, it's for the models of the picture...and I'm dropping out, I'm not doing it this year.'

Andrea had to hold the phone away from her ear when Lanie's volume tripled on the decibel scale. 'What the fuck are you talking about? Put Daniel back on the phone right now!'

Andrea tossed her phone to her husband, who also held it about two inches from his ear and cautiously said, 'Yeah, Lanie, I'll tell her.'

'What?'

'She said she's coming over tonight and you better prepare for an ass-kicking.'


	9. Bath Tub Ass Kicking

Andrea made it to the end of her shift, and for the first time in she didn't know how long she was thankful her children wouldn't be home - Miss Agnes and Jim Beckett had volunteered a week before to take the girls to an exclusive engagement of _Toy Story_ at the Jubilee Theatre. She wandered to the fridge in the kitchen and tried to figure out what to do about her hunger situation - option one, she ignored it, let the voice that sounded suspiciously like Joan Rivers tell her no matter what she ate she would just get bigger and bigger so she had to stop eating. Option two was to not give a damn what she ate anymore since the public at large had deemed her the love-child of the Elephant Man and Roseanne Barr.

Either way, she thought, it meant bye-bye to delicious things like boneless fillets of fried chicken, tacos, cheese, ravioli, oven baked French fries, high-sugar fruits.

She was thankful Daniel just let her be when she said she wanted a hot bath to soak away her troubles. Andrea prayed he wouldn't try to compensate her ego by going out and bringing home something disgustingly awesome and awesomely disgusting like Petrelli's hot potato pizza - pizza crust with sour cream, cheddar and mozza cheese, green onion, bacon and jalapeno-soaked potatoes - that would make her cry in frustration like an overtired child.

Andrea disrobed, slipped into the hot, warm water and closed her eyes as she felt her body float a little. Was that why she loved swimming and diving so much - it was a way for her to feel sleek and streamlined, nubile and lithe in a way she never did on land?

She slipped her head beneath the water, blew bubbles out her nose like a hippo. _Appropriate_, she thought miserably and surfaced; she let out a sharp cry when she saw she wasn't alone in her bath.

'Jesus Christ! The fuck are you doing in here?'

'Daniel let me in,' Lanie replied, pursing her lips together when Andrea tried to tug across the shower curtain for a little modesty. 'Girl, you ain't got nothing I don't own, and we've seen each other naked before too.'

'Doesn't matter,' Andrea grumbled. 'What you've got is worth seeing naked.'

'Say the woman with two children. I suppose you had Daniel jerk off in the bathroom into a specimen cup, and then you dipped in a vibrator or something?'

'That's ridiculous.'

'Takes one to know one,' Lanie fired back, her face a study in anger. 'Why are you listening to those assholes, Andrea? Did it ever occur to you they're wrong?'

'No, it didn't, because it's what they do day in and day out.' Andrea moved her legs so she planted her feet on the bottom of the tub. 'They are paid to be mean to people but they know their fashion.'

'And they are so narrow in their views of what looks good, anyone who doesn't fit their ridiculous list of minutia is deemed unworthy.'

'You weren't.'

'On one list, sweetie.' Lanie slipped off the closed toilet seat lid to kneel so she was at eye level. 'You heard all of us say how beautiful you look, especially me and Honey-Milk, right? We'd both love to look like you.'

'Why?'

'Because you're tall, for one,' she pointed out. 'You're what, five-eight?'

'Five-nine, actually.'

'If I wanted to be five-nine, I'd have to wear five-inch heels. And you've got a booty most black women would slit their wrists for. Seriously,' Lanie insisted at Andrea's snort. 'I know the first time I saw it I went, damn what do I need to do to have an ass like that?'

Andrea ran her hands over her stomach, grabbed two handfuls of it and wanted to cry. 'But you can't do that, can you?'

'No, because I have a different body than yours. But my body is just a vessel for my brain and my heart and my soul. And let me tell you, you have one of the best of each I've ever met. The example you set, the standards you have, they are so high, sweetie, you may not know it, but there are times when I've stopped myself from doing something very very stupid because I worried how you would react and be disappointed in me.'

'Name one.'

Lanie smiled; she'd been hoping Andrea would say that as she had the perfect one. 'The wrap-up party we went to for the arts festival last year, I was approached by an agent to pose for _Playboy_.'

'What? Please tell me you didn't take it, Lanie, please tell me you're not going to humiliate yourself like that,' Andrea begged, her own misery forgotten as panic for her friend bubble red hot in her belly.

'Of course not. It was flattering at first to think my body was worthy of pictures like that, but then I thought of all the people I love in my life and who would be disappointed in me, and right after my husband and my children came you.'

'Me?'

'Yes, because all I could think was, how will I tell Andrea, my sister, that I'm posing for porn and be able to still do it when she breaks down in disappointed tears? How could I live with myself knowing I made her that upset? So I told the guy after thirty seconds to think it over that I was flattered but no dice.'

'Good.' Andrea's chest released and she sighed shakily. 'Don't ever do that to me again.'

'Never, darling,' Lanie smiled and gripped her friend's hand. 'You need to wash up or just relax?'

'Why?'

'I want to know if I should put the Petrelli's hot potato I brought with me into the oven to stay warm.'

'Oh, Lanie-'

'You're eating, Andrea, because if you don't, if you starve yourself, those assholes win and the Andrea I know and love doesn't let people get away with stupid shit. You show them up by doing what you do - eating balanced and exercising and then when your photos come out in August they are going to kick themselves at how they misjudged you.'


	10. Dinner Date

They sat in the living room - more intimate Lanie said - and it took a little prodding but Andrea managed to start nibbling one slice. It was Lanie's biggest fear for her friend, that she would be so harsh on herself that she would equate all caloric intake with the devil.

They ate in silence, letting Andrea sort through her thoughts,, until she was half-way through her small slice and said, 'I was singled out.'

'What's that, baby girl?'

'I was singled out,' Andrea repeated. 'If it had been criticism like, oh those everyday girls are playing dress up, I would be okay with it, because it's a level playing field. But being singled out, it felt exactly like what Cora and Gerry used to do to me. I've put them so far behind me it was like being plunged back into the nightmare of them all over again.'

'Not to sound condescending,' Lanie said cautiously, 'but were they really that bad?'

'The first time I took Daniel to meet them we went to Cora's for dinner on Christmas Eve. My plate had half a wheat roll, no stuffing, no gravy, about two table spoons of potatoes and about six ounces of turkey. Daniel asked me why I wasn't having more and Gerry jumped in, and I quote, she knows what's an appropriate size serving for a woman her size.'

Lanie's protective streak of Andrea flared once more and she set her jaw. 'How long did Daniel put up with that shit?'

'He didn't. I'd excused myself to the bathroom to make sure I wasn't going to cry in front of them, and when I came back Gerry said to me, sit down and eat your dinner Andrea, this man was just leaving and I left with him.'

'Atta girl.'

'They don't still have that hold on me. It comes and goes like it does for any woman, but it's not as severe and I can usually talk myself back to Earth.' Andrea paused, then without really registering it, she selected two more small stuck together slices - what she would normally eat when having pizza with a girlfriend - then gave a little amused chuckle. 'You know what it really reminds me of?'

'What?' Lanie asked, nudging the ranch dip towards Andrea, smiling herself when her friend dumped a teaspoon of it onto her plate for her pizza.

'It reminds me a bit of what happened to Taylor Swift at the VMAs when Kanye West bombed her first ever moon-man award acceptance.'

Lanie gave a little giggle, took another slice for herself. 'You know what? You're absolutely right. That's exactly what this was like. You got to have this magical moment and then those fuckers tried to ruin it. What?'

'I'm sorry, I'll just never get used to hearing you swear like that. You thirsty?'

'Yeah, I'll take a juice-box.'

Andrea looked over her shoulder at her friend. 'A juice box?'

'Heddie shared her Oasis Deliciously Purple with me last time I visited, and it was tasty.'

'Okay, juice box it is. Can you get that,' she added when the houseline started to ring an arm's length away from Lanie.

'Sure. Hello? Hey! Oh, okay, sure. Will do.'

'Who was that?' Andrea inquried, returning to the couch with juie for Lanie, water for herself.

'Meredeth, she said turn on the TV to _Access Hollywood.'_

Andrea found the remote and clicked on the television; as luck would have it the set was already tuned to the info-tainment show and Nancy O'Dell was in mid-report

'_...controversial comments made in numerous publications regarding one of Machado's models Andrea Brick. Brick, who is one of Machado's original Real Live Women models and will be in the exhibit set to debut in August in New York City, wore a white sarong cocktail dress on the Vanity Fair red carpet with her fellow models. Today she was the target of incredibly vicious attacks from fashion critics calling her amongst other things a whale, a rhino and a snowman, which has lead to severe internet backlash._

'Whoa,' Andrea breathed, but Lanie shushed her sharply.

'I wanna hear it!'

'_When asked for a comment,' _Nancy continued on screen, '_Machado had the folowing say quote 'It takes a whole new word to describe how f_ing angry I am that one of my models who is also a friend was treated so viciously at her red carpet debut. Not only does it insult and belittle one of the sweetest women I know, it completely undermines the purpose of my art show which is to show the female form is beautiful in all shapes sizes and colours, as well as giving my art show negative attention. Because of this I will only be offering interviews on my art show to those publications which issue apologies to my model and friend Andrea.'_

'Holy hell, she is pissed,' Andrea murmured, then let out an 'Ow!' when Lanie slapped her in the arm.

'Fucking duh, she's pissed! They came after our sister, of course we're going to be pissed! The fuck is the matter with you?'

'I...I didn't think you'd make such a big deal about it.'

'Andrea, we know you and we knew the moment you saw how awful they were you'd need us. You always need us, just like we always need you.'

For the first time since telling Daniel at work, Andrea felt her eyes well up and spill over. 'Dammit, you're gonna make my pizza soggy.'

'And we don't want that so chow down and then you and i are taking a walk over to Roscoe's for ice cream and we're gonna try a little experiment.'

So saying, Lanie picked up her phone, dialed in her back-up. 'Honey-Milk, you busy? Good. We're meeting you at Roscoe's for ice cream in thirty, okay? Yep, all three of us and bring the magazine too.'

'What magazine,' Andrea asked warily when Lanie hung up, then shook her head when she produced the previous summer's copy of _Vanity Fair_ with the _Real Live Women_ layout.

'Come on, Andrea, let's go have some fun.'


	11. Influence

'Andrea?'

'Yeah.'

'You should do this one again.'

Andrea glanced over as Lanie pointed to a picture from the magazine as they rode the subway over to West Forty-Fifth Street, where Roscoe's was a stone's throw from the subway stop. 'I really like it, it's very come-hither in a totally classy way.'

'First Jenny, now you,' Andrea giggled. 'Who's next, Robina? Lili?'

'Nah, if anything it'd be Mere, you guys look so much alike, kinda like Beyonce and Tyra Banks.'

'Wonder if that's a fantasy of Esposito's.'

'Mere says his number one fantasy is-'

Lanie stopped short in her words and Andrea mouthed 'what' but Lanie simply held up a finger. 'Listen.'

Andrea cocked her head subtly to the side, listened in the direction Lanie was furtively pointing. Two men in their early twenties were paging through a copy of _USWeekly_ and making comments as young men did.

'Dude, that is total crap!'

'Just let it go, bro, you'll get to see her titties in Vanity Fair in August.'

'No, I mean the fact they picked on her! She's, like, the same size as that writer chick, right? So why are they calling her a cow?'

'Because they're dipshits?'

'That's the only answer I got too.'

The subway train lurched to a stop and Lanie and Andrea exited, Lanie elbowing Andrea in the ribs in glee as they headed topside. 'See? You have more of an impact than you think.'

* * *

'Hello?'

'Hey-oh? Mama! Pin-cess Mama!'

'Maybe she's in the bathtub.'

Daniel set Heddie onto her feet as he walked his daughters into their kitchen; he'd gone out for a walk to clear his head and gotten a cup of coffee before heading to Agnes' house to pick up the girls post-movie. Heddie, it seemed was high on life and sugar while Nessa just wanted to go to bed as quickly as she could.

'Daddy.' Heddie lifted her little head, sniffed around like a hound scenting game. 'Daddy, it 'mell goo'.'

'It does smell good.'

' 'Mell like 'nacks.'

'Heddie, you had popcorn and an orange slushie at the movies,' Nessa yawned, then called out, 'Mama! Mama we're home!'

'Mama it lid-dill ow-lee!' Heddie added, using her mother's pet name for her; she looked up at her father, squinted. 'Daddy, where Pin-cess Mama?'

'I'm not sure sweetie.'

'Maybe she went for a walk for some fresh air,' Nessa said on another yawn before wandering into her room to change into her pjs.

'Fesh-ah goo'.'

'Yes it is good for you,' Daniel agreed, then stoped short when Heddie gasped. 'What is it, baby girl?'

'A no'!'

Daniel looked at Heddie pointed to the kitchen table and he saw the piece of paper with Andrea's hand-writing on it; _hello Daniel, Sweet-Pea and Little Owl, Lanie came over with pizza and we went to meet Honey-Milk for some ice cream at Roscoe's. I'll be home soon. Love Mama xoxo._

'Whaddit say?' Heddie asked, peering at the incomprehensible scrawl; she wished she knew letters like Nessa did. 'She go-a moo-vee?'

'No, Auntie Lanie came by for a visit, they had pizza for dinner and then they went to visit Auntie Honey-Milk,' Daniel replied, leaving out the ice-cream bit. Heddie didn't need any more ideas right now.

'Tha' goo' dee-ah. She go whoo!' Heddie asked with a dramatic slump of shoulders. 'Geddit ou'?'

'I think so. And right now, it's pyjama time for you.'

'O-kee Daddy.'

Heddie began to strip on the spot, leaving a trail of pint-size clothes all the way to her room, which Daniel picked up just as Nessa came into the kitchen to get a drink. She had the fridge open and was debating juice or water when the apartment door locks tumbled open and Andrea came in with a small plastic bag in her hand along with her purse.

'Hey, sweet-pea,' she said softly to her daughter. 'Where are Daniel and Heddie?'

'Getting Heddie's pjs on, she is all hoppy on sugar from the movies. How was icy-cream at Roscoe's?'

'Delicious. I had a new flavour, lemon-walnut in a waffle-bowl, and I liked it so much, I brought some home.' Andrea held up the bag and Nessa clapped.

'Yummy! We can try it tomorrow for dessert, right?'

Before Andrea could answer, she heard Heddie's voice from her room. 'Daddy, Pin-cess Mama home!'

'Oh, boy,' Nessa giggled when she saw her little sister come marchign out, arm-wrestling herself into her nightie. 'Heddie, Mama's not going anywhere tonight.'

'No, nee' moosh.' Heddie pursed up her little lips and Andrea crouched to give her a hug and a kiss. 'Fesh-ah nice?'

'Yes my fresh air was very nice,' Andrea said when she saw her husband and daughter nodding behind Heddie. 'And it looks like I'm just in time for story-time, right?'

'Righ'! 'Mon Nissy!'

Heddie scampered off to her sister's room to find the book they were reading, Nessa hollering after her to not touch anything but the book. Alone in the kitchen, Andrea crossed to her husband and wrapped her arms around him.

'I love you so much Daniel,' she told him, stretching to her tiptoes to kiss him deeply, sensually.

'I love you right back, Andrea.'

'No, I mean, you always know what I need. You poked and prodded me this afternoon to talk it out with you, then gave me a little space and now you're back right here.' Andrea paused. 'Am I a bad wi-'

She was cut off when Daniel's lipped crushed against hers. 'Don't even think about finishing that thought. You are a wonderful wife, Andrea and I love you so much. You're always there for me when I need you so I am here for you when you need me.'

'I'm going to read the girls their bedtime story, then...' Andrea trailed off, kissed him again. 'It's our turn.'


	12. The Original Dirty Bedtime Story

As promised, once the girls were tucked in, Andrea and Daniel retreated to their bedroom for some much-needed intimacy. Daniel knew that's what Andrea wanted on the surface, but underneath he knew it was about her feeling good about herself, her body.

So when he found her in bed in a thin tank top and tiny panties, he simply slipped into bed beside her naked, stroked his hand over her side.

'Where do you want to go tonight?'

'I want to tell you about the first sexual fantasy I ever had about you,' she replied, lying on her back with her face turned towards him.

'I don't know if I've heard this one.'

'No, because it was something I like to keep for myself, but tonight...tonight I need to feel good about me and that night, when I dreamed about you...' Andrea trailed off, closed her eyes as she replayed that very nice morning after back in her mind. 'I hadn't felt that confident about myself in a long, long time.'

'That's what I like to hear.'

Andrea frowned a little. 'Doesn't that make me completely transparent? Thinking about how I look for my man?'

'You had a sexual fantasy that made you feel empowered. You, all on your own. I was just the very lucky guest star,' Daniel replied, tapping her at the curve of her shoulder. 'What's weak about that?'

Put like that, it was hard to Andrea to argue with it so she settled against the sheets, let her voice go low and sultry. 'We're in ancient Greece, and it's days of tournaments where winners are declared by blood spilled. I represent Crete and you are the burly warrior-poet of Sparta.'

'Is my name Leonidas?'

'No, just you.' Andrea shifted a little, let her hands rest against her belly just where the fabric of her top ended. She may not have always liked the curves she felt there, but by God she was proud of her skin - smooth as skim milk and firm despite her jiggly bits. 'And I'm me. We're competitors in the archery contest and before we start there's trash talk from both sides. At the end of the contest, the king declares a draw and we're both outraged, promising blood oaths to get the other person tomorrow.'

'Something tells me we don't wait until tomorrow.'

'Mm-mm.' She shook her head. 'You decide to sneak over to my riverside villa and tell me I have to be the one to bow out of the contest. You round the edge of my villa and stop short because you can see I am bathing in the river, completely naked. My robes are nowhere to be seen and I've got just water and the rising moonlight for cover. You're not sure whether to look away or continue to watch.'

'I think I know which one I would do,' Daniel sighed, watching her face go lax with pleasure.

'You decide to come over, making sure your footsteps are loud so that I sink back into the water for some kind of modesty. I ask you why you've come to my villa but you're tongue-tied, can't the words out. You tell me you didn't mean to disturb me, and I realize that you're nervous because I'm naked. So I rise up out of the water, gather my things and say if you want to talk, come into the villa.'

'You seduced me right from square one.'

'Oh yes I did. You follow me into the main room of the small villa, and I put on a loose robe that stays unbelted so it's like I have nothing on at all still. I ask again what you want to talk to me about and you tell me you want me to bow out of the contest. I tell you the hell I will, and we get into an argument until all of a sudden you're kissing me, pulling me against you and I feel how hot and hard you are beneath your own robes.'

'Not just in the fantasy.' He took her hand, guided it down so she could feel him hard in the here and now. 'Keep going, it's just getting to the good stuff.'

'We're tugging and ripping at our clothes and really wrestling until you have me pinned beneath you, and my robe is open so you can see everything and you put your hands on my breasts; I cry out partly in frustration because it's making me so hot and I want to hate you but I can't because you make me feel so good.'

Andrea paused a moment to pull her top over her head, shimmy out of her panties, and Daniel's brain went hazy went he watched his wife caressed her breasts, her fingertips rubbing against her nipples. 'My hips thrust up against yours and I feel you, just as hot as I am, but then I can hardly think or even breathe when you use that wicked mouth on my breasts and your tongue flick my nipple.'

Daniel had to fight the urge to take over, but it was a small battle, as he could hardly think as he watched his beautiful, sexy Andrea circle her pebble-hard nipple with her thumb, catch her lip in her teeth as she continued, 'My thighs fall open and I'm already so wet for you I can barely control myself but I have enough brain power to ask you to use your hand between my thighs.'

Andrea closed her eyes, let her hand drift down and Daniel nearly came then and there as he watched her stroke herself, slip a finger inside herself; she was never really a fan of using vibrators and Daniel didn't bother saying a word, as watching her like this was far more erotic than any piece of plastic slipping in and out of her body.

'You make it slow, so slow I scream for you to go faster, until I feel that cataclysmic release and...and...oh!'

She felt the tension that had been winding up and winding up in her core finally explode, her hips pistoning against her own hand, until she went limp, lax on the bed, then turned dreamily sated eyes to Daniel. 'And then, to my great disappointment I woke up.'

'But I'm here now and we're both very much awake.'


	13. Don't Call It a Comeback

_Hello all! I know I haven't checked in a lot on this one, but I think the content speaks for itself! Also an 'arepas' according to my friends at Wikipedia is like a dessert empanada that is popular in Puerto-Rico. Hope you're not hungry now or you'll be toast in the fryer's dinner chapters! Read and review and love and share!_

* * *

On Tuesday morning, Honey-Milk yawned widely as she leaned against the nurse's station countertop and read the night-shift report. She'd slept poorly, tossing and turning and think of Andrea the entire night, wondering if she was going to follow through on her promise not to ditch fryer's dinner that night. On one level, Honey-Milk understood completely why she would - the fryer's dinner was the night after the Vanity Fair festival's wrap-party when they went to Pookaloo's and indulged in their favourite fried foods. Because this year Vanity Fair had decided on a kick-off party as well, they decided to have an additional fryer's dinner at the start of the festival too.

It worried Honey-Milk immensely that Andrea would still agreed to come but order only salad and completely miss the point of the dinner in the first place. Or worse, she'd blow it off all together.

When the elevator doors dinged open, Honey-Milk looked up out of habit and did a double take when she saw Andrea walking towards her with her bag in one hand and a neon green baker's box in the other. The tantalizing aroma of fried sugar and fat hit Honey-Milk like a freight train and she quickly finished the chart she was working on so she could give her friend and the baker's box their due attention.

'Morning superstar.'

'Is that what I think it is?' she asked Andrea, knowing her eyes were going wide and greedy.

'Yes ma'am. I was up early with Nessa, couldn't get back to sleep and I thought you and I could start fryer's dinner early.'

Andrea lifted the lid like she was presenting her godmother with a briefcase full of sequential, unmarked bricks of twenties. '_Arepas de pina colada, arepas de cacao, _and _arepas de guayaba_. Hot fresh and made just for us.'

'Ohhhh.' The sound Honey-Milk made was akin to a woman under her lover's hands and she had to actually gulp so her mouth wouldn't spill over with drool. 'Which one to choose?'

'I had a cacao on my way back from the Salamander so I can assure you they're very good.'

Honey-Milk's eyebrows lifted. 'Yesterday you were ready to swear off all things yummy, now you're having dessert empenadas for breakfast?'

'I did have fruit-and-fibre in the form of oatmeal with fresh strawberries before I went to the bakery, Mama,' Andrea teased her and the little giggle she gave had Honey-Milk's radar perking up.

'You got laid last night, the really dirty kind, didn't you?'

'Jenny! We're on the peds floor!'

'And it's only eight am, most of them are asleep until we do rounds in half an hour.' Honey-Milk debated it, then mentally declared it fryer's dinner day and picked out a second _arepas de cacao_. 'C'mon, be a pal. Kevin and I haven't gotten in bed like that since Saturday since he's in day one of the McGyver case hearings.'

'Just one, since there are little ears near by.' Andrea nibbled the flaky pastry, drawing out the suspense. 'We had a dirty bedtime story, a very dirty one, and the first orgasm I had, Daniel...just...watched.'

'Oh my good god.' Honey-Milk genuinely waved a hand in front of her. 'Damn Nurse Brick you're making me flush.'

'Oh shut up,' Andrea responded good naturedly, then stiffened a little when she saw Jupiter come out of the staff change room with the previous day's copy of _USWeekly_ in her hands.

Honey-Milk saw it too and immediately brace for an attack as Jupiter blithely commented, 'Man you are stronger than me, eating bakery stuff the morning after these articles came out. If it were me I'd be going for rabbit food and a seven day cleanse.'

'Man do you know how dangerous those are,' Andrea asked. 'It's a hell of a lot easier to brush off some jackass being nasty in the press than the effects of malnutrition.'

Honey-Milk wanted to jump up and down and scream in delight; this was her girl Andrea, the one who made no apologies for her diet and would balance it out exactly as she'd done - healthy breakfast and one sweet treat because it was a special occasion. She also knew Jupiter well enough to know that she had a terrible habit of speaking first and thinking afterward, which made it all the more triumphant for Andrea.

'Hey, you got your phone handy, Andrea?'

'Yes, I do, why?'

'Mere said she's emailing us the menu for fryer's dinner tonight. Oh and it's supposed to be a really windy night on the terrace.'

'You guys going for dinner?' Jupiter inquired, still paging through the magazine.

'Yeah, it's something all the models do for the Vanity Fair photospread,' Andrea said with a grin; damn but it felt good to brag like that. 'We book the roof-top terrace at Pookaloo's just for ourselves and have a fryer's dinner.'

'Sounds yummy.'

'Jupiter, can you check the linen closet, see how many changes of sheets we have? I know Cook is looking to spring at least four patients from the chicken pox epidemic that swept through last weekend,' Honey-Milk told her, and Jupiter nodded, snagged a guayaba for the road. Once she'd left, Honey-Milk gave in and jumped up and down on the spot before she wrapped her arms around Andrea. 'Oh, honey, welcome back! I missed you yesterday.'

'I was here from eight to five, Jenny.'

'No you weren't. Your body was but _you_-' Honey-Milk drilled a fingertip between Andrea's breasts '-you weren't here. You'd checked out and it was not something I wanna see again, especially not over those losers who said such nasty things about you. Got it?'

'Yes Mama,' Andrea teased her and Honey-Milk's smile stayed in place.

'I need temperature readings and heartrates for charts before pre-rounds on three-oh-four, oh-eight, twelve, and sixteen, and check to see if Missus Conney in three-thirteen wants some coffee before the doctor comes in to talk with her about Annabeth's lab results.'

'You got it.' Andrea wiggled her phone. 'Still want the dinner menu?'

'Nah, you keep it. You've got good taste so you can help me decide when we get there tonight.'


	14. Train Talk

When she was off-shift, Andrea had just enough time to zip home and freshen up before she met Alexis at the subway; much like when she'd gone to her first girls' night out with the family, they would be the first subway stop and each one would add another person or two. It had helped she'd laid out her clothes before leaving for work so that when she got home, she merely had to sprint through the shower, dress and kiss her loved ones on the way out the door again.

Now she sat beside Alexis on the train cutting through the city towards Lili and Lanie's houses; as she was closer to the restaurant at the precinct Beckett had already said she was going to meet them there after shift.

'This feels very familiar,' Andrea told Alexis, their bodies lurching with the movement of the train car.

'Yeah?'

'Yeah, it's like when we had our first girls' night out, when I was like barely pregnant with Nessa. We made the train stops all along the way to collect everyone.'

'We'll we're only collecting you, me, Lanie, Lili and Mere. Everyone else is meeting us there since where they are right now is closer than leaving, going home and going back.'

'Fair enough.' Andrea drummed her fingers on her knee, gave Alexis a little smile. 'I still can't believe you're part of the _Real Live Women_ now. I thought you were against it when we first started doing it.'

'No, not at all,' Alexis replied with a shake of her head. 'I just didn't want it to feel like I was trying to ride my father's name to my own limelight by being a bad girl, you know?'

'I can understand that. I remember you mentioning mock headlines like _Castle Daughter to Strip for Nude Photos_ and that kind of thing.'

'Exactly. I've grown up now so now since I'm not the cute kid anymore, I'm not really that interesting to them. Or at least I wasn't until this. Fortunately, they realize I twenty-nine and if I want to appear in any state of undress for photos it's an adult's choice.'

'Wow, twenty-nine. So are we going to be having a big three-oh bash next year in the Hamptons for you?'

'I don't know.' Alexis didn't want to tell Andrea that she and Shane had begun to have the baby-talk until there was something definite to announce, and that she might be pregnant this time next year so a huge bash might be a little taxing for her body. Then she remembered all the parties they'd had before when pregnant women had partied as hearty as the rest of them.

She didn't realize she'd drifted until she registered Andrea's hand waving in front of her face. 'Sorry, what?'

'I said what about your mom? What convinced her to change her mind on the photo shoot too?'

'Oh, that,' she laughed. 'Mom lost a bet.'

'She what?'

Before Alexis could answer, the train lurched to a stop and they both heard her before they saw her - Lili's voice carried like birdsong, light and sweet in the harsh fluorescent lighting, undercut with Lanie's smooth-honey voice. When the petite woman saw their friends, she raced over and immediately plunked herself beside Andrea and wrapped her arms around her.

'Attack hug!' she cried, wiggling back and forth. 'Oh, _cari_, I feel so awful, I was gone to New Jersey all day for work yesterday, I just got back this morning and I...I...'

'Lili, sweetie, it's okay,' Andrea soothed her when she actually saw hot angry tears threaten at the corner of Lili's eyes. 'There's no need for tears.'

'Sure there are! Those...those...' Lili gave up, let loose a string of what Andrea had to assume was very unflattering Spanish, the way she all but spat the words out like bugs that had flown by accident into her mouth.

'Feel better now?'

'Don't you dare listen to them, Andrea. You are sexy and wonderful, and best of all, you are healthy, not some sick skinny bitch with big boobs.'

'Hi,' Lanie added with a bright smile as Lili finished her rant.

'Hi,' Andrea and Alexis replied together in the same tone of voice, Andrea adding, 'Alexis was telling me Kate lost a bet and that's how she wound up doing the photo-shoot?'

'In a manner of speaking,' Lanie explained. 'She and Castle were playing poker with the people from the precinct one night and she was up against him for a really heavy hand. She didn't have the cash on hand to keep herself in the pot but like hell she was going to lose face against Castle at his own game, right? So she told him, if she won he'd streak through the precinct and if she lost, she'd do Sloan's art exhibit.'

'Mom already had decided to do the photo-shoot before that,' Alexis explained, 'and this was her way of making it sound like she was teasing Dad.'

'Very crafty one, our Katie-Lou is.'

'Yes, she is,' Lili agreed, still hugging Andrea around her middle like Nessa did when she'd had a bad day. As if anticipating her friend, Lili looked up and said quite plainly, 'Nope, not letting go just yet.'

Andrea had little choice but to simply pat Lili's silky black hair and continue the conversation until they picked up Meredeth, the last stop before they would reach the restaurant. Meredeth took one look at Lili holding tight to Andrea, arched an eyebrow and said 'Okay, then,' before sitting down beside Lanie across from the other women; the bags she set at her feet clinked loudly, almost like MEredeth was transporting dishes.

'Uh, Mere? You do know we're going to a restaurant tonight right? They have their own flatware.'

'It's part of a little surprise I have planned for you. One to make sure those nasty rat bastards and their comments are purged from your life for good.'

'One that involves china?'

'Just trust me.'

As Meredeth turned to Lanie, asked her about shopping for Rosie's birthday gift, Andrea realized this was exactly why her girls hadn't much talked to her the day before.


	15. Demon's Barbecue I

'Good evening, welcome to Pookaloo's.'

The hostess was friendly as lemon pie as she greeted the group of women, excited when she recognized the statuesque brunette as the author of her favourite graphic novel. 'For how many?'

'Our party is already here, the Esposito group on the rooftop?'

'Of course, right this way.'

Andrea had been to Pookaloo's on more than one occasion - they were a funky upscale diner and bar - but she'd only sat in the booths with their wooden frames and white leather seats lit from above with candy-coloured neon lights. Getting to go the rooftop patio was a different story; she knew after listening to Sloan and Mere budget the party she'd calculated it was nearly nine hundred dollars for three hours. That was outside of food, booze, waitstaff service charges and anythign else their bill would entail. Andrea didn't often flaunt that she had more money than even Richard Castle did - shit, who was she kidding? She could have bought the whole restaurant twice over, yet she still waited until Target had sales on her razorblades and mouthwash. She never flaunted her cash; hell, the blouse Meredeth was wearing cost nearly as much as her day's pay while her own brightly coloured silk tunic was an end-of-season purchase in September because it was sixty percent off, and her pants from Saks Fifth Avenue had also been discounts two years prior that she'd had tailored.

The shabby, leftover feeling was gone, however, when the waitress opened the doors and they stepped into a little urban getaway.

'Oh, wow,' she breathed.

'Yeah, you said it,' Alexis agreed.

The patio was surrounded by greens and shrubbery so it gave the effect of being in someone's back-yard. The cobblestones were smooth and even, barely noticeable underfoot as they walked towards the single round table set for ten people. That would have been Meredeth's doing, Andrea knew; she completely subscribed to the idea of a round table promoting equality amongst all present parties. To the side was a small bar set up along with a table completely bare of any decorations and simply covered in a white table cloth.

'Perfect,' Meredeth crowed and she went to the bare table, opened one of her bags which Andrea had called right - from her tote she produced a beautiful glazed clay bowl Andrea recognized from living in Japan as a bowl used in temples for burnt offerings to the gods and ancestors.

'Is that what I think it is?' she asked and meredeth only grinned.

'You'll have to wait, Andrea-san, until the rest of the party guests arrive.'

'Hey!'

They all turned around to see Beckett and Lindsay coming through the door, as were Robina and Sloan herself. 'We had to hit the ladies room,' Beckett said, going over to give everyone hugs. 'And I think we're all here now, aren't we?'

'Yes, we are,' Lanie nodded, 'which means that it's now time to begin our ceremony before we eat.'

'Oh, no, drinks first, Lanie,' Meredeth reminded her. 'Works better with booze.'

'Right, right, how could I forget?'

'I'm confused,' Andrea said as the women all filtered to the bar to find wine or beer and all came back along with their drink plus a shot of tequila. 'What's this for?'

'Just trust Meredeth,' Honey-Milk told her, passing Andrea a glass of red. 'She came up with this and it seems like it's going to be a really good moment for all of us.'

Andrea sipped her wine as she watched all the women line up their tequila shots on each side of the bowl, then Meredeth took a barbecue lighter out, place it with some small ceremony on the table in front of the bowl before returning to the group of women. From her bag she pulled a small stack of papers of various sizes, began to pass them out.

'This is called a Demon's Barbecue. I used to do this with Kristof in the early days of Lady Hawk when we were still catching on, and I know you are big on Japanese culture so I decided to do this up a little like that.'

Meredeth took a sip of her beer, cleared her throat. 'I read at two different temples, they do what's called a demon expulsion ceremony before the summer season so that they'll have a good harvest. I figured if we do that at the kick off of thearts festival, it'll ensure when August rolls around and we're all showing off our sexy pictures again that we're a smash once more.'

'And because we want to make sure you remember you're never alone,' Lanie added, 'we're all going to do one to make sure they hear us loud and clear. You mess with one, you get us all.

'I think that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard of,' Andrea replied, sincerely moved. It was hard to talk about her life in Japan with her mother, as agnes knew the whole reason Andrea had taken off was because she hadn't been able to handle the way she'd been treated after her father had died. That she had friends who not only loved her enough to try and imitate the culture she'd fallen so much in love with but also used it to cheer her up meant more than the Hope Diamond to her.

Honey-Milk saw her go quiet, and gave her a comforting hug. 'Save the tears for tears of joy when we have dinner. I read the email you sent, Mere, I was having food-gasms all day.'

'You've been eating right, too, right Andrea?' Robina asked; there was nothing worse in her mind than a woman who caved to societal pressures to be thin rather than listening to her doctor and being healthy. 'None of this fewer calories good, no calories better bullshit?'

'Nope, not when I've got this one-' Andrea wrapped her arm around Lanie's shoulders '-kicking my ass in a bathtub.'

'I think there's a story there,' Lindsay giggled, 'but it'll have to wait because I think we've got wind coming in here and we don't want things blowing all around.'

'I agree, Lindsay,' Meredeth said, 'and since this little barnstormer was my idea, as the master of ceremonies, I'll go first.'


	16. Demon's Barbecue II

_This siection contains lyrics from one of my favourite songs, which sadly I don't own. Oh and a reference to LMFAO. enjoy!_

* * *

After handing off her camera to their head server to document the ceremony for them Meredeth stepped forward, read aloud from the paper in her hand. 'The Ledger's style section says Whoever convinced Miss Brick a woman of her size could wear white with stilettos and look like something other than a rhino on toothpicks should be given a medal as Master April Fool's Prankster. I don't fucking think so.'

Andrea watched in fascination as Meredeth took one of the shots of tequila and poured it over the article, soaking the paper through. She tossed it into the bowl, then stepped back. 'Who's next?'

'I'll do mine.' Lindsay, whom Andrea had gotten to know better since she began with the trauma doctor Cannell at Saint Vincent's, stepped up to the front of the group now. 'According to Pop-Tastic, hopefully when Miss Machado's show debuts in August, one of two things will have happened - either Miss Brick will have lost about forty pounds or Miss Machado will have discovered a magical elixir called airbrushing to get rid of the unsightly rolls on her model.'

She snorted, doused her paper with tequila and like Meredeth tossed it into the bowl. Sloan was next, advising the lunatics at Fashionistas Inc that her models did not look like the little sister of the Pillsbury Doughboy, followed by Lili reminding the idiots at _Sugar and Spice_ that there was no need to call Meredeth a great white blimp.

Andrea listened to the litany of evil things they'd said about her, but this time, rather than being devastated she was incensed. Not only had they hurt her, they'd hurt all these wonderful women she was proudly to call her friends and sisters. When it was finally down to the last person, Andrea wasn't at all surprised that Lanie had wanted to go right before Andrea did. What Andrea wasn't anticipating was Lanie's approach to this emotional purge.

'According to _USWeekly_, I am a vision in burgundy. That's a nice compliment but it doesn't mean shit when they rip on my sister.'

Lanie added her paper to the bowl, then looked at Andrea. 'Now it's your turn.'

Andrea nodded and read the one that had hurt the most - from _Entertainment Tonight_, where the resident fashion critic had said this is not the red carpet for the Jenny Craig Beginner's Club.

'I'm sexy and I know it, you fuckwads,' she said in a crystal clear tone that left no room for arguments. 'You can go rot in the corner of hell reserved for tax law and Dick Cheney.'

'Nice one,' Robina said appreciatively.

Andrea deposited the paper into the bowl, then stepped back to look at the other women. 'Now what?'

'Burn, baby, burn,' Lanie said; she picked up the barbecue torch and passed it to Andrea. 'Send those demons to the netherworld in a fiery blaze.'

'There's like nearly a dozen shots of tequila in that bowl!'

'Exactly why we are using fireproof ceramic,' Meredeth said drily.

'Come on Andrea,' alexis encouraged her.

'Wait. Yo, dude!' Andrea hollered at one of the waiters. 'You got a book of matches?'

The waiter patted his pockets, came up with a box of wooden stick matches. 'Here you go.'

'Thanks.'

Andrea shook a match loose, struck it and as she stared at the bowl, she thought of the way she'd felt after her dirty bedtime story, before Daniel had put his hands on her, how strong and sexy she'd felt. She narrowed her eyes and murmured in Japanese, 'I hope all of you feel this as much as I did.'

She dropped the match into the bowl, watched the sudden flare of neon pink flames shoot upward and grinned. Behind her, she could hear Lili begin to sing a very appropriate song. With each line, the others began to join in so when they hit the chorus, they were all singing and cheering at the sight of the bitch-fest fashion articles being reduced to drunken ashes.

_You know that it would be a sin  
You know that I would be a liar  
If i were to say to you  
Girl we couldn't get much higher  
Come on baby light my fire  
_

'That was fun,' Andrea said fleefully, then saw Honey-Milk lift a finger, shake her head. 'What there's more?'

'Yes. We purged the demons now we need to replace their void with something positive and healing.'

She took out another piece of paper, cleared her throat. 'As my blog updates in the later hours of the morning, after the hard-copy press has gone to print, I've had the opportunity to review the various fashion critiques of last evening's red carpet for the High Summer Arts kick-off party. I never like to speak ill of my colleagues, however I feel it behooves me to point out a rather glaring universal error in nearly all lists I read. I'm speaking, of course, of the inclusion of Andrea Brick on the worst dressed lists and the savage attacks made under the guise of entertaining 'fashion-don't' criticism.

'Andrea brick is not a fashion model or actress, she is not a socialite whose job is looking pretty on a red carpet, or any other kind of public figure whose career depends on her looks,' Meredeth went on, 'She is a highly-regarded pedatric trauma nurse, a wife, a mother of two little girls ages 4 and 2. She has the body of a woman living outside the hollywood regime, and she has a figure many women would be - are - very jealous of.

'Her dress, a custome Van Valken sarong, suits her to a T; women with the hourglass figure Andrea proudly showcased on Sunday evening, who have a lean torso with curvier hips, invoke a Grecian goddess image with this style. In this day and age where grown women are encouraged - expected - to have the slim, undefined body of a prepubescent boy, I personally find it breathtaking when a wonderful woman like Andrea is celebrated in Sloan Machado's perrenial fan-favourite nude study _Real Live Women._ All the best, Luka Richelle.'

'Wow. that was amazing,' Honey-Milk breathed.

'A good way to wrap things up, I think.'

'Very much,' Alexis agreed. 'Now what?'

'Now we eat.'


	17. Demon's Barbecue III

'Man, how are we going to choose from this menu?'

Andrea leaned over Honey-Milk's arm to look at the selections they were being offered for eats now that the demon's barbecue was done. It was, in her mind, the perfect solution - cast out negativity with a literal trial by fire, and replace it with a celebratory dinner.

'It totally sucks I'm allergic to seafood,' Lanie groused good-naturedly on Andrea's other side as she shared a menu with Lindsay. 'Castle says the crab cakes here are good.'

'Yeah, they're killer,' Robina agreed, grinning when Lanie childishly stuck her tongue out. 'Mature, Doctor Parrish-Robbins.'

'Just for that, I'm going share my fish-cakes and coleslaw with Lindsay instead of you.'

'We're so getting the deep-fried cheese-and-jalepeno ravioli, Andrea,' Honey-Milk told her. 'Hell, we need to get two or three.'

'You're that hungry?'

'No they're that good and I want leftovers,' she replied with such simple conviction that Andrea had to playfully put on her mommy-hat.

'Well, I suppose, but you have to eat some veggies too.'

'Yes Mama.'

'Can I get in on that action?' Lanie asked and Honey-Milk giggled.

'Sure, why not?'

Across the table, Beckett and Meredeth watched Andrea with Honey-Milk and Lanie, not only ordering food with them but laughing and relazing and enjoying herself. 'So good to see that,' Meredeth murmured, pondering if she should get an extra order of the salt and pepper bread she knew her husband loved.

'Yeah, it is. I can't imagine what it must have been like for her to grow up with her sisters being so awful.'

'She grew up with a kind of interesting symmetry to me.'

'How do you mean?'

'I grew up just my mom and me until she went to war and never came home. I was eleven when she died, right? Andrea grew up with a sort-of stable home-life. Then her parents split up when she was eleven and she went to live with her father until he died ten years later.'

Beckett said nothing; she knew the rest of that symmetry - while wedding-planning, Beckett and the Ry-Sposito monster had been called to a crime scene only to discover that their victim of an obvious suicide was none other than Meredeth's biological father. Meanwhile when Andrea was pregnant with Nessa she'd been able to begin reconciling with her long estranged mother and build a positive future with her. Balance in the universe, she thought, wasn't always fair trade.

Putting it aside, as tonight was a time to be happy, she in turned focused on her menu she was sharing with Meredeth. 'You should take Javier some salt-and-pepper bread, or I'll never hear the end of it. You know what he's like when he pouts.'

They placed their orders, with the others filling in the gaps with wings, pulled pork mini-sliders, hot spinach cheese and artichoke dip and when they were alone on the terrace Sloan tapped her fork against her beer bottle to get everyone's attention.

'First of all, from the bottom of my heart thank you so much once again for doing the photo-shoot this year. I know how busy you all are and it means so much to me that all of you take the time to help me out.'

'It's us who are honoured, Sloan,' Lili told her.

'What else would we do for our friend?' Robina added, sipping her wine.

'Well, I'm glad you feel that way because there is something this year we're going to do differently.' Sloan paused, sipped her margarita. 'This year the only time you'll be together as a group is for the group shots. I'm giving each of you an individual photo-shoot because...'

She trailed off and to everyone's surprise, she blushed a bright ruby red in her honey-toned cheeks. 'Sloan?' Honey-Milk ventured. 'You okay?'

'Yeah, just trying to think how I'll phrase this. It was easier in my shower this morning. I'm going to do the photos for the exhibit that will get turned into the magazine layout, but I'd also like to give you the option of doing some more...erotic shots for your significant others. Like these.'

Sloan pulled her tablet from her handbag, pulled up pictures from her portfolio and passed it around the table. 'These are pictures I did for Millicent Berry when she was asked to do that spread for _Allure_ and she said only if I did the pictures. Then when we'd finished the ones for the magazine and she asked me to do some...uncovered shots, for lack of a better word, for her husband.'

'Oh, wow,' Beckett said, passing the tablet to Lanie, who nodded.

'I agree, totally erotic and sensual yet they're not porn-tastic.'

Andrea kept her eyes averted until Lanie gave her the tablet and she studied the photos - three of them - as only a woman could. 'That is fucking hot, Sloan,' she said. 'I think Daniel would get a kick out of some of those from me.'

'Me too. Except, you know, for Ryan, not Daniel,' Honey-Milk laughed; she caught Beckett and Meredeth's eyes and they looked just as delighted as she felt at the idea that Andrea, the very person they were making sure was staying cheered up, was the first to volunteer for something like this.

'You're all okay with it?' Sloan asked. 'You're not just saying that to make me feel relieved?'

'Of course not,' Lanie scoffed. 'We're already naked, and in some of the pictures we're only covering up the five percent of our tatas and whatnot that save the pictures from being deemed pornographic. If the only people who are going to see the rest of that five percent are our husbands and the other women present, why not do it?'

'What do you mean, the other women present?' Sloan asked, though her wheels were already turning.

'Why not do a private viewing of the whole exhibit, like a slide show or something, for all your models the night before the exhibit debuts? Then the press will be howling at the knowledge we did uncovered shots that are exclusively for the models only.'

Sloan's smile was wide and proud. 'That sounds great.'


	18. Second Dessert

Andrea unlocked the door, balancing carefully the three boxes of leftovers between her chin and her palm so they wouldn't spill their delicious contents. She wasn't surprised when they'd had enough for everyone to have a leftovers packet of that size - hell, they'd ordered enough food for a small starving country.

As she expected, her husband was waiting for her in the living room while he watched the hockey playoffs and was yelling at the screen over some infraction the players had committed.

'You're pretty sexy when you're angry,' she teased him by way of greeting and Daniel turned to look at her; the look on his face had Andrea's head spinning delightfully.

'Same goes, sexy. Here.'

Daniel got up, helped her with the boxes. 'Did you not eat or what?'

'Are you kidding? If I eat a single bite more tonight, I think I'll have barbecue sauce and chocolate sauce shoot out my ears.'

'Interesting combo,' he laughed, kissing her lips.

'We over-ordered, as usual, and saved room for dessert, as usual.' Andrea went to the cupboard and took out various reusable containers to divide up her culinary booty.

'What was it this year?'

'Mmm, I tell you, I know you'll get a food-boner.'

'That would be a nice prelude to the real deal since I have plans for that barbecue-sauce filled booty tonight.' Daniel paused, blushed a little at his epic fail. 'That came out a lot stranger than I thought it would.'

'I know what you mean.'

'And we're still in foreplay mode with the food,' he added, lifting the first lid to see mini pulled-pork sliders, salt and pepper bread and fish-cakes with coleslaw. 'Tell me, tell me.'

'We had a small selection plate. Valrhona truffles...Meyer lemon and raspberry souffle...and German cheesecake with candied almonds and strawberries.'

Daniel pretended a dagger had been plunged into his heart. 'Oh, damn girl.'

Knowing she would be turning her man on even more, Andrea licked her thumb, gave him a saucy look. 'The waiter asked if I wanted whipped cream on top but I told him that's for my husband only.'

'Oh, you naughty girl.'

'I can be even naughtier of you want.' Andrea lifted the lid on the last box and divided up its contents; she put the containers into the fridge then produced a smaller box. 'I brought home a little something for after.'

'After?'

'Mm-hmm.'

The food dealt with, Andrea slipped off her shoes, unhooked the snap of her pants so she could let them drop in a black silky pool at her feet. She pulled off her top, unhooked her strapless bra so she was naked but for her very skimpy black silk thong. 'You want a little cherry pie first?'

'Fuck yes,' Daniel breathed, drinking in the sight of his nearly naked wife. His sexy, busty, curvy wife whose body had given him the two most beautiful gifts of his life that slept like angels in their beds. He stripped off his own shirt and pants, grinned in the way of a man knowing he was going to get laid when he saw Andrea's nipples perk up at the sight of his bare chest.

'Come on, barbecue sauce.'

He took her hand and led her over to the living room where he turned up the sound a little louder on the hockey game, making Andrea laugh.

'Isn't that going to wake our baby girls up?'

'Nessa could sleep through a nuclear explosion, and Heddie was invited for a sleepover after you left to RJ and Jojo's house. We're fine,' Daniel murmured to her, pulling her close and running his hands up and down her back. 'Are you feeling really overfull?'

'No, hence the leftovers, why?'

'Just going to say there's nothing hotter than a woman who knows her appetite.'

'I thought most men consider a woman who knows how to chow down a hog or asexual because she is one of the boys?'

'Yes, because watching a woman complain over her salad when I can count her ribs is such a turn-on.' Daniel shook his head. 'When are women going to figure it out that men want you healthy with a little jam or jelly spots in the right places?'

'When the rest of popular culture stops telling us that anything above size two is reason for diet pills and stomach stapling,' she said with her own shake of the head.

'That's why people love Sloan's show, you know. It's women of all shapes and sizes and colours in their natural beauty. You can see the imperfections and Sloan's photos tell all of us, that's okay, it's part of who they are but it doesn't make them.'

'Is it any wonder I love you so much Daniel?'

Andrea tipped back her head, nipped at his lower lip. She deepened the kiss, her tongue tracing the outline of his mouth. 'My love,' she murmured against his lips.

'My love,' he repeated back to her, then pulled her over to the couch where he sat down so she was straddling him, opening herself for him. Daniel kept his eyes focused on her as he took the delicate strings of her thong in his hand and pulled it; in a single snapping gesture, it was in tatters and Andrea let out a shaky breath.

'You ripped my panties off.'

'Yes I did.'

Andrea shifted her hips, reached between their bodies so she could remove the rest of her ruined lingerie. She rocked them forward, felt the beginnings of his arousal against her body. 'Can you tell how much I love that?'

'Oh yes, my love,' he said, his hand moving to cover her breasts. 'I really can.'

Andrea threw her head back, arching her back so her breasts pushed into his hands; she let out a little cry when she felt his thumb on her nipples. Her cry grew louder when his tongue replaced his thumb and Daniel felt her arousal slick and wet against him.

Neither of them noticed the amusing irony when twenty minutes later the game announcer on screen cheered, 'Goal!'


	19. Photo Shoot Day

'Am I brushing too hard?'

Andrea smiled at the stylist in the mirror as she pulled her brush through her hair. 'No, not at all Fatima. Now I now how my friend's dog feels getting her belly rubbed.'

There was a knock on the door and Sloan stuck her head in the door. 'Hey superstar! You look beautiful.'

Andrea looked over to where Sloan had poked her head in the door, and waved her in. 'Thanks! What's up?'

'I just wanted to show you a few other pictures from Millicent's shoot, since you're the first one to do this year's photos.' Sloan brought out her tablet, waited until Fatima was finished and had given them some privacy. 'You nervous about this?'

'No, not at all.'

Andrea smiled as she thought of the night of the fryer's dinner and demon's barbecue two months before, how when she and Daniel had finally made it into their bed he'd taken pictures of her with his phone and she'd revealed the new development of the erotica photos Sloan was going to do for each woman. He'd gotten so excited by the idea they'd set a personal best of four times in a single night.

Sloan nodded, pulled up the sample photos of Millicent. 'You're going to do about eight to ten different poses. Are any of these appealing to you, or do you want to just do all your own ideas?'

'Well, there is one I really would like to do that involves a long string of pearls and some high-heels.'

'Oooo, nice. I think we can definitely accommodate that. Did you want your make-up a little heavier for these ones?'

'No, I like the natural look,' Andrea replied, gave a little shrug. 'It reminds me of the first time I made love with Daniel.'

'Yeah?'

'Yeah.' Andrea rose from her spot in her make-up chair, walked into the main studio in bare feet and her robe fluttering as the fans in the room worked overtime to keep the space cool in the melting July heatwave. 'Are you trying to get the room cooler so the twins say hello?'

'No, if we don't keep it cool in here, the equipment overheats. Just over there.'

Sloan pointed her to the area that was meant to resemble the sitting room of a luxury hotel where there was a settee with gorgeous curving arms centred in the best possible lighting - soft, dreamy, as though it were raining in a Parisian springtime. While she checked her cameras, Andrea went over to the settee to get the feel of how comfortable she would be. She leaned back, angle herself and smile when she braced the arch of her right foot against the other arm, let her left foot point delicately at the floor. She flipped to her stomach, kicked her legs up so her knees were at right angles, then rose to her knees as she sucked in her tummy a little and braced her arms so she created a natural cleavage for her breasts while still leaving them uncovered.

Yes, she would be very comfortable doing this.

'Okay Andrea.' Sloan approached with her beloved Canon Rebel in hand. 'You ready for the first one?'

'Mm-hmm.'

Andrea rose and shed her robe, then arranged herself on the settee as she'd done with her little impromptu dress rehearsal. She struck the pose, arching her back just a little more so her head was lifted up and her neck was elongated. Her hands seemed to take on a life of their own as she stroked her palms over her thighs, her stomach, her breasts, up to her shoulders and face.

'Nice, Andrea, nice,' Sloan told her as she moved expertly, working the camera angles and adjusting her lights. 'Okay, and relax, give your muscles a moment to breathe.'

Andrea relax, gave a little chuckle. 'If I'd known this was what it'd be like, I'd have suggested it the first year we did the photo shoot.'

'Yeah, but a five year anniversary is a nice time to start something new too.' Sloan set her camera down for a moment. 'You want to try a different pose?'

'Sure.'

Andrea sat up, stretched and flipped onto her stomach to do the second she'd tried, but she paused when she saw the stylist Fatima come over to Sloan with a narrow white jewelery box and a pair of lethal looking high-heeled shoes. 'You liked my idea? The one I mentioned on the way home from fryer's dinner?'

'Hell yes I did,' Sloan agreed, passed Andrea the shoes to put on. 'Here, robe up for a moment, my assistants need to redress the set.'

Andrea put her robe on, giving a happy little shiver as she did. She'd seen the picture ages before when she'd been paging through a vintage edition of _Bombshell_ with Daniel that had featured collections of some of the most famous pinup girls of the fifties and sixties. She'd come across one of a Welsh model named Bronwyn Heston who'd been wearing nothing but a string of small pearls at least six-feet long and needle-thin high-heels. Andrea had told Daniel if she'd had the body, she'd have a glamour shot like that done, to which he'd replied even if she were nine months pregnant, he'd love to see her pose like that. Now Andrea was getting her chance to live out that sexual fantasy.

She lifted the lid of the box and drew out the pearls, looped the string over her neck. 'These are just like Bronwyn's, Sloan.'

'Actually, they were.'

'No way! Seriously?'

'Yep.' Sloan nodded, checked her batteries and adjusted her lights once more. 'A little time, a little patience and I was able to track them down through an old props auction house. She may not have made a splash here in America, but Bronwyn was a popular and tasty dish in Swansea and her movie and modeling memorabilia came up for auction about a month ago.'

'Miss Machado?' The assistant came over, tapped her shoulder. 'We're ready.'

Andrea shed her robe, looped the pearls over her head. 'This is going to be so hot. Can I take a couple copies home for Daniel today?'

'All good things to those who wait.'


	20. Models Only I

Three weeks after her individual photo-shoot, the group shots had been done, and Andrea and Honey-Milk were on their way to the private showing Sloan had set up for the models only.

'It's almost like a dress rehearsal in a way,' Andrea mused as she and Honey-Milk left the subway stop near Sloan's studio. 'Then of course that makes me think of how Sloan's been doing this and wedding planning too.'

'Lindsay and Adam are going first.' Honey-Milk gave Andrea's shoulder a light little nudge, linked arms with her. 'Still cannot believe you and Daniel are flying everyone down to Bermuda for the wedding at your house there!'

'Too much?'

'No, not at all, just always forget that you actually have that much money, kinda like how it's easy to forget it with Meredeth too,' Honey-Milk replied. 'Here we are.'

Honey-Milk turned them towards the building with Sloan's studio and they stepped inside, went to the top floor. Since Sloan's business had become larger and larger, she'd added a second studio space so should she kept straight back-drop only shoots on the top floor and the larger, permanent set-pieces were stored on the original office floor. They went inside and weren't surprised to find they were the last ones there. Lili and Lanie were sitting in two of the horseshoe of nine chairs by the projector set up to show off their photos, while Robina, Lindsay, Beckett and Alexis were milling around a table of treats and over by the computer Meredeth and Sloan were making sure that the audio was synced up properly, or so Andrea guessed since she could hear them mumbling about things like 'audio cables' and 'wave volume'. When Alexis caught sight of the last arrivals, she clapped her hands and cheered.

'Hey! You made it!'

The others looked over and saw it was the final members of their group which made them cheer as Alexis had. 'Hey girls!' Lindsay called out to them. 'Come on over! We've got champagne and yummy things before we see our naked pictures!'

'Someone's been into the wine,' Honey-Milk laughed, and Lindsay gave a little giggle.

'Adam's a recovering alcoholic and he knows I won't drink in front of him comfortably just me, so I save it for moments like this. Besides I'm nervous enough m'self.'

'Why are you nervous, Linds?' Andrea asked and Lindsay gave another little giggle.

'I am trying on my wedding dress on Monday for the last time before September fifteenth.' She let out a little squeal. 'Less than a month to go!'

'Andrea, you want a snack?' Beckett asked, drawing her over to the table of goodies. 'We've got champagne, exotic fruit, some cheeses and then some little French macarons for when we're done with the viewing.'

'Ooo.' Andrea selected a small plate of mango, papaya and strawberries with a flute of champagne, then saw Sloan come over, wrap her arm around her waist. 'There's our superstar.'

'Hey, good, I'm glad you're here, I've been waiting rather impatiently.' Sloan patted Andrea's back. 'Come on.'

Sloan led Andrea over to a side table where she had propped up was was obviously a double-wide portrait frame under a cloth. Andrea looked around as the others came over and joined in to witness the unveiling. 'Okay, so this year, when I was negotiating the prices with the finance people of the, they suggested since we always have the trio of 'buy-one, bid-one, silent bid-one', we should have a single-photo open auction as the centrepiece of the exhibit.'

'Just one?' Meredeth asked, and Sloan nodded.

'It makes it more exclusive, so it will drive the bidding higher. Plus, since Andrea and Luka Richelle will be there, we're going to offer Andrea's autograph to them for an extra thousand, Andrea and Luka for two and a photo plus autographs is an extra three.'

'Let's see the picture you selected,' Lili encouraged her, and they all held their breath as Sloan twisted at her engagement ring, then yanked off the covering cloth.

'Ooooo.'

The women chorused the single syllable as they admired the picture of Andrea doing what Sloan thought of as the 'woe is me, I'm so beautiful I can hardly stand it' pose: Andrea's left leg was angle forward like she was taking a step up a stair, her left arm holding her breasts in place while the back of her right hand was pressed against her forehead. Her eyes were half-closed and slanted towards the camera in a look that clearly said you know you want me. Beside it was an advance printing of Luka Richelle's blog about why the critics were wrong in their attacks on Andrea's choice of dress for the red carpet kick-off party back in May.

'The opening bid is set for five grand,' Sloan continued, and she audibly swallowed when she saw Robina give her a look. 'Too high?'

'Too low, sugar. You're going to see upwards of ten grand for this.'

'You think so?'

'I'm an agent, it's my job to know things like that.'

'Sloan.' Andrea put a hand on her shoulder and felt the tense muscles there. 'You okay?'

'Yeah, just...just really nervous, I mean there is so much pressure this year for everything to be just right, you know? Between the auction and the press over Andrea...I want to remind people it's about the pictures.'

Honey-Milk gave her a squeezing hug. 'It's always been about the exhibit, and that's what the press is going to realize tomorrow when they see all of our pictures.'

'Yeah.' Alexis moved in, wrapped her arms around her friend. 'They're going to realize that they made a huge error when that picture of Andrea sells for like fifteen grand tomorrow.'

'Okay, oaky, don't let me get soggy. Bad enough I was throwing up for the last three mornings in a row,' Sloan said on a watery laugh and Lanie's eyes narrowed.

'You're not pregnant, are you?'

'Oh, God no!' she laughed. 'No, Jeremy and I are very very safe. It's just nerves.'

'Okay then. Let's get this covered up-' Beckett put the cover back on the framed photo and article '-and let's get to the real reason we're here tonight.'


	21. Models Only II

They sat down with Honey-Milk and Lanie on either side of Andrea, making her smile. Her own little guardian angels in the flesh, she thought. Were she religious, she'd be inclined to think that in finding them her father was making sure she knew she always had someone in her life who had her back, just like he'd done when he was there.

She smiled to herself when Lanie reached over, gave her hand a supportive squeeze. 'You're going to look great, girl.'

'So will you, Lanie.'

The lights dimmed and the projector started up with Sloan manning the controls. The image of her studio's logo - the S of her first name in green forming half a curlicue heart half and the other half to form the M in red - came up before the logo for the exhibit as an instrumental Billy Joel came on.

'I shuffled the photos, so I have no idea what order they're going to go in,' Sloan started, but found herself shushed by the others.

'We wanna watch!' Lili hissed sweetly.

Andrea sipped her champagne, watched as the second photo came up was Lanie, sprawled on her tummy on the same bed that Andrea had done her pearls-and-high-heels photo on. She was looking over to her right, twisting so her bicep artfully covered the centre of her breast and laughing while she bumped her hair as she scratched her head. 'That's hot,' she murmured to her friend.'

'Sloan's assistant told me a dirty joke and I didn't realize Sloan had taken the picture until later. The original pose for that one we ended up not using in the exhibit shoot.'

'It's totally organic and natural, it's gorgeous.'

Right after Lanie's came Honey-Milk, this one of her sitting on a windowsill looking towards the camera was the majestic Empire State Building spired up in the window background. Her knees were tucked up towards her breasts but her cleavage was still visible, and Andrea even saw a little roll or two on her tummy. 'That's something I never thought I'd see,' she murmured.

'What?'

'You with the sit-down fat.'

'The what?' Honey-Milk asked laughingly.

'The sit-down fat, you know, that little bit of tummy when you sit down all of a sudden pops out.'

'Oh that,' she giggled. 'Yeah, any working woman who's had a baby or two will have that no matter how much she works out. I wanna see you soon.'

Andrea patted her friend's head as Honey-Milk leaned her temple on her shoulder. 'Don't worry you won't miss seeing Santa Claus, Jenny-dear.'

Lanie had to laugh; though Honey-Milk was easily four years older than Andrea and her boss to boot, whenever they were off the clock Andrea always took a maternal approach to her relationship with Honey-Milk. It was a fascinating dynamic and so uniquely theirs.

Then her eyes were transfixed on the screen as Andrea's first picture appeared. She leaned forward, putting her chin on her hand as she looked at the photo - Andrea was kneeling in the middle of the bed, in a pose reminiscent of Jaynes Mansfield, arms folded so they both covered and supported her impressive bosom. Her back was arched, her lips brushing her shoulder and she was once more giving the audience and camera those 'you know you want me' eyes.

'That is sexy,' she told Andrea, 'it's like a Greek statue of a siren or something come to life.'

'A siren?'

'Yeah, a siren,' Robina agreed, leaning past Honey-Milk, 'the women who tempted sailors with their beautiful songs, and then destroyed them. They evolved into what buccaneers called mermaids.'

Andrea felt a little silver shimmer go down her spine. 'Daniel occasionally calls me Ariel, because I scuba dive and have red hair.'

'There you go.'

They watched the rest of the exhibit photos go by and applauded Sloan, who gave a little bow; they took a break, stretched their legs to get a refill on the snacks and wine or hit the head, and when they returned the lights were dimmed once more. Only this time, instead of classy piano, there was bass and drums, hot and slow and throbbing, as the title screen of the show faded to black and then faded to the first of the nude shots; it was Alexis on the chaise lounge, hands delicately above her head and head turned towards the camera like she was saying 'hello there, I didn't hear you come in while I was daydreaming naked.'

'That's my little girl,' Beckett said, pretending to wipe away a tear of pride.

'Shane is going to love that one,' Alexis replied, thinking of how he'd taken a similar one right after the first time they'd made love at all in their relationship.

'You look amazing, Alexis,' Andrea told her earnestly, hoping it would cover her nerves. Though she knew they'd all done around eight to ten different poses, they were only sharing one and they'd selected it with Sloan's artistic eye for guidance. She couldn't wait to see how she looked against the other women, wondering if the one she'd picked was on par with them.

She kept waiting and waiting, watching as she saw all her friend's nude images go past until she realized that Sloan was saving her for the very end. She held her breath as Meredeth's photo faded to black and her own popped up: it was the one where she'd lain on her back, upside down in the bed with her high-heels propped against the head board, and the rope of pearls looped artfully so that the beads actually grazed the inside of her nipples. One hand lay against the inside of her thighs so it almost looked like she was pleasuring herself while she had the other lifted to her mouth, the tip of her index finger caught between her teeth.

Andrea looked around, noticing that no-one had said anything and were just staring at the picture. 'It's okay?' she asked hesitantly.

'Okay?' Lanie's eyebrows nearly hit the ceiling. 'Honey, I know I'm a one-hundred percent straight woman, minus a drunken makeout or two in college, and that picture makes me wanna do you.'

'Seriously?'

'Hell yeah, Andrea. Even more, it makes me wanna go home and do my Italian Stallion. Like, right now.'


	22. Family Breakfast

On Saturday morning, Nessa awoke to something with tiny fingers poking at her. She winced, flinched, then felt a tiny person climb into bed with her.

'Nessa!'

'No, Heddie go away, I'm still sleepy.'

'I no' Heddie, silly girl!'

Nessa was confused; the voice was definitely a boy's. But she had no brothers so the only option left was to roll over and see who it was invading her space. She turned and gave a happy little wiggle. 'Hi Max Power!'

'Hi-hi!' Max hadn't put his glasses on his face yet, and he was blinking big dark blue eyes at his friend. 'Mami and Daddy say us an' you fam-ee goin' sippit a-gedder!'

'Sippit?'

'Uh-huh, sippit, wit' Suh-loanie pishers wit'...' Max trailed off, went bright red in his caramel cheeks. 'Wit' mamis wit' no 'lothes!'

'Oh that's right, I forgot because I'm suh-till sleepy.' As if to prove her point, Nessa sat up and yawned; her buddy did the same. 'But you know those aren't gross pictures, right? You can't see any bad stuff.'

'Mami say it 'bout ladies bein' boo-tee-fo.'

'Exactly right.'

From the doorway to her daughter's room, Andrea watched her little girl with her buddy. Max had a little crush on Nessa it seemed and always loved to spend time with her whenever they had family gatherings, and always liked the task of waking her up as was proven this morning. She waited until she saw Nessa swing her feet over the side of her bed and Max followed suit; he held her hand tight because he didn't have his glasses on, but his vision was good enough he recognized Andrea in the doorway.

'Hi-hi, An-duh-rea! We haffin' bik-fiss?'

'Yes we're going to have breakfast.'

'We haffin' waffas?'

'I don't know let's go find out!'

'Less go, Nessa!' Max held fast to Nessa's hand and all but dragged her to the kitchen, Andrea following close behind where she saw that the children all had their plates selected and ready to go so that when Meredeth was done with the waffles and Esposito had the bacon ready to go, there would be no whining while waiting.

It still blew her away the night before when they'd left Sloan's private viewing that Meredeth had informed Andrea - not suggested or planned but informed her - that she and Esposito would be bringign the children to the loft to have a proper family-style breakfast the morning of the exhibit so that Andrea wouldn't have the time to be nervous about the show's debut. They'd shown up with all the children still half-asleep and while they'd napped in the living room, Esposito had made the bacon, Meredeth the waffles, Daniel was in charge of juice, plates and coffee and Andrea took care of the . Now, Andrea could of course see the extra effort was worth it as she listened to the chatter of her children with her friends; Max in particular was entertainment enough as he tried to be a big-bro of sorts to Nessa though she was easily two years older than him.

'Nessa, here, you 'tay wit' me,' he instructed her, actually pointing to a little spot on the floor beside him where Nessa was, in his mind, supposed to be standing. 'You wan' boo-berries or tah-berries?'

'Suh-trawberries please.'

'Nissy, mo-nin' Nissy!' Heddie waved at her sister. 'You 'cited?'

'I sure am, Heddie!'

'See Mama pisher!'

Andrea could only look at Meredeth and share her shake of the head; she knew her friend was thinking same thing - what did it say that their children were so excited to see the exhibit where they saw their mothers posing with nothing but their wedding rings and a come-hither look for cover?

Fortunately, Tessi being sage in such matters, turned around and said to Heddie, 'It's going to be very different kinds of pictures, Heddie. Sloanie did a special art exhibit with ladies who forgot to get dressed but all the private spots are covered up so we can see how beautiful they look.'

'Know _tha'_, shee,' Heddie said with an actually little eye-roll. 'Mama mos' boo-tee-foo pin-cess ev-ah!'

'Leo, Trini?' Daniel poured juice into kid-sized cups. 'You got any ideas on the exhibit?'

'As long as no one says any bad words about my mami or her friends, it's all good,' Leo said, sounding so much like Esposito it was a little scary. 'What about you, twin?'

'I agree. The girls Sloan took pictures of, they are so pretty because they are real people, not all like Barbie dolls in Hollywood, so as long as no-one says anything bad about them it will be awesome,' Trini said as she held up her plate to get it filled with waffles.

'Andrea, you want waffles or an omelette or what?' Esposito asked.

'Oh, just some fruit and juice.' She rubbed a hand over her stomach as she sat at the kitchen table, eyed up the plates of bacon, toast, fruit and cheese. 'Too nervous.'

'You need bacon,' Leo told her and Max, having found his glasses nodded. 'Right Max?'

'Wha' righ'?'

'Andrea needs some breakfast.'

'Oh yes.' The little boy shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose. 'Bis-fiss mos' im'ortan' 'tuff.'

'He means thing,' Tessi explained. 'He's still little so he says stuff instead of thing.'

'I no' little! I thu-ree! I big!'

'But who is the youngest in our family, Max?'

'Me! An'...oh...' Max frowned, thought this over, then decided to let it go. 'Notta pin.'

'Not a pin?' Andrea repeated.

'He means not the point,' Trini chipped in and giggled when Max nudged the bacon towards Andrea.

' 'Mon, An-duh-rea, it yum-yum-yummy! Pisha-lee wit' cashup!'

'Okay, if you insist, Max Power.'

Meredeth watched her friend as she helped Daniel dish out breakfast to the little kids and grinned; she wondered how many of those Hollywood sticks would love to be Andrea, eating bacon on the same morning her nude photo-shoot was about to debut in an art show.


	23. Exhibition Day

When the dishes were done and the children tidied up too, Andrea dressed in what she considered something delicately summery and chic. The thermometer said it was cooling down but it was still around eighty-nine degrees, so she selected a lipstick red top and lush white peasant skirt that hit her ankle bones, paired it with silver sandals. There would be little opportunity to sit down during the five hours of the exhibit and a skirt meant using the bathroom would also be easier too.

'This is going to be amazing,' Daniel told her as the cab stopped and they were left out at the Seventy-Second Street West entrance to Central Park, right across from the Dakota. 'Man, Strawberry Fields in August is hard to beat. I remember the first year of the show, it was just like this weather wise.'

'I remember it well myself, but for very different reasons,' Andrea smiled, holding Nessa and Daniel's hands.

'Why pishal Mama?' Heddie asked, riding atop Daniel's broad shoulders.

'Because we were right in the middle of looking at all the pictures and Nessa decided it was time to get things started so she could have her birthday.'

'Really?' Nessa's bluey-green eyes went wide at this bit of family history. 'Was I a kicky baby?'

'No more than Heddie, but you really didn't like it when I said bad words. Then you'd hoof me like you were saying, hey! Little ears here!,' Andrea told her and Nessa giggled, nodded.

'No bad words Mama. Oh! Oh look! The line is moving!'

Nessa held fast to Andrea's hand as they followed the rest of the group in; as part of Sloan's contract agreement, the models were not to be treated like VIPs during the event which meant they had to pay the admission price and wait in line like everyone else. Andrea loved this idea because the conceit of the art show was about real women, the kind who didn't get treated like royalty because of a pretty face.

'Mama.' Heddie leaned over, patted the top of Andrea's head. 'Where you' pishers?'

'I don't know, little owl, we'll have to walk around and find out.'

'See odder pishers?'

'We wil see other pictures.'

'Woo!'

They wandered through the exhibit, loving how each model got her own tryptich folding stand to display all of her pictures. They passed Meredeth's, Alexis' and Robina's before arrivign at Andrea's; she stopped them and said simply, 'Well, what do you think?'

'Oh, Mama, you a nekkid pin-cess,' Heddie breathed.

'Just like Ariel when she first got her human legs and she didn't have any bottoms because she never needed them in the water,' Nessa added, then tipped her head to the side.

'Daniel?' Andrea asked, looking at him and he said nothing at first, just gave her that sexy, slow burn of a smile that made her feel as fluttery as her summer skirt in the morning breeze.

'Daddy, Mama as' you a question,' Nessa prodded him.

'Pit-out,' Heddie added helpful, using her father's head as a bongo drum.

'Ow, easy Heddie.'

'So-wee, Daddy.'

'I think...' he trailed off slowly, drawing Andrea in for a kiss, 'you are the sexiest mama I've ever known.'

'Aw, what a guy,' Andrea giggled and laid her lips against his; this response had both Nessa and Heddie making grossed out noises, which madeh her laugh more. 'Heddie, Nessa, you just looked at that picture and kissing is gross?'

'Ah-cause Mass say mooshin' mean babies,' Heddie replied primly. 'Mass know, he see it.'

'Oh dear.' Daniel let out a chuckle. 'I knew they weren't done with that moment yet.'

'But today's not for going 'ew',' Nessa decided, slipping her hand into Andrea's once more. 'It's for saynig yea Mama, you look gorgeous!'

'Go-shus. 'Loanie!'

Heddie clapped her hands and Andrea turned around to see Sloan had sidled up behind them; she looked terribly trendy in her loose graphic tee and black-pedal pushers held up with bright red suspenders and kitten-heel sandals in the same vibrant tone.

'Hey, there's the girl of the day!' Andrea hugged her, kept her arm around her shoulders as they looked at Andrea's photos. 'Bet those jerkoffs are kicking themselves now, huh?'

'Oh yeah, especially since I only let the four news outlets in that actually offered apologies for their statements. Did you see that?'

Sloan pointed to one of the yellow stickers and Andrea grinned proudly - the picture of her that was also being featured at auction was currently in a bidding war with someone. 'How much?' she asked, and Sloan returned Andrea's grin.

'At last check, eighty-five fifty.'

'Not bad.'

'Not bad?' Sloan was sincerely a little surprised.

'Yeah, I mean, my preggo bidding war sold for almost ten.'

'Ah, okay. Well, in the in-between time, come with me.'

'Mama, where goin'?' Heddie asked. 'I go too?'

'No, sweetie, you have to stay with your daddy,' Sloan told her and wasn't surprised when Heddie pouted magnificently.

'Wan' go too.'

'No, Heddie, look!'

Nessa pointed to her right and Heddie grinned widely, sour mood forgotten instantly, when she saw Dell and Mallory approaching with Ryan and Honey-Milk. 'Dell! Mally! Look! Mama pidy nekkid pin-cess!'

'Yeah, I see it,' Dell groused, making everyone else lift an eyebrow.

'What's with him,' Andrea asked as Honey-Milk came over to give her a hug hello.

'Oh, that. Tell you later.'

Andrea gave a little shrug, let Sloan lead her over to another section of the exhibit; it was getting a little harder to move around as more and more people arrived, and more importantly the collectors arrived for the central auction. There would even be an auctioneer taking bids and as Andrea saw the crowd that had gathered, she felt Sloan's grip turn sweaty against her palm.

'Relax, girl,' she murmured to the nervous artist. 'You'll be just great.'

'You think so?'

'Sure.' Andrea gave a confident little shrug. 'I was your model, wasn't I?'


	24. The Auction

Honey-Milk stood beside Andrea and Robina, with Lanie and Lindsay wandering up behind her as the crowd settled in front of the little stage area that had been set up for the central event of the exhibit. The auctioneer, a rotund man with a pudgy face and a voice made for radio, began his spiel to the well-dressed crowd.

'Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, welcome and thank you very much for attending this afternoon's single-item auction.' He gestured to the framed photo which had been set up beside his podium still covered. 'A rare single-print of the _Real Live Women _model Andrea Brick coupled with an article written by fashion guru Luka Richelle.'

With a little flourish the auctioneer whipped the covering cloth off, and the crowd actually went 'Ooo' and applauded to both Andrea and Sloan's delight.

'See? That reaction alone is worth five grand,' Lindsay murmured.

'I'll believe it when I see it.'

'The opening bid is five thousand, am I bid five thousand?' The auctioneer started and instantly hands went up; he gestured and began to use the motor-mouth jargon of his trade, unintelligible to the layman. Andrea watched, fascinated as he picked up cues for bids - the lift of the paddle the subtle flick of a finger, the tap of a nose that kept the price going higher and higher.

'Hey,' Lanie said, elbowing Andrea beside her. 'Check that out.'

Andrea looked and saw there were a few people making gestures while talking into cellphones. 'Wow, that's awesome.'

'What is?' Lili asked, having just wandered up with her daughter and Honey-Milk pointed.

'Those people there on the phones, they're bidding on the picture for whoever they've got on the line.'

'Hey, Sloan.' Andrea poked her in the shoulder. 'What happens to pictures and autographs if the highest bidder isn't here?'

'They have to come to the studio to pay and pick up the photo. You and Luka and I will be there.'

Andrea shrugged; it was hard to argue with that logic so she focused her attention back on the auction. Some bidders had dropped out, but there were still at least three going strong - two in person and one on the phone.

'I think that guy's having a religious conversion.'

Andrea glanced over her shoulder, saw Meredeth was there with the twins, each with a little paper bag in their hands. 'What makes you say that?'

'He sounds like he's speaking in tongues.'

'Mami, you're so funny,' Leo giggled, then handed Trini his little paper bag. 'Here twin, hold this please.'

'What is it?' Andrea asked as Leo bent to tie up his shoe lace.

'It's a special order card. We got to order post-card pictures of Mami from Sloanie's catalogue to send to our kind-of mofa Terrance,' Trini explained with regal authority; she looked up at her mother and hissed loudly, 'Now, Mami?'

'Not yet sweetie, we have to wait for Daniel.'

'Wait for Daniel for what?' Andrea asked and Meredeth blithely side-stepped the question.

'Just a little something for Nessa and Heddie. I wanna hear him.'

'He's impossible to understand.'

'He's just raised the bid to ten-six,' Robina said and Andrea was impressed.

'How can you tell?'

'I worked in the property receiving room at Sotheby's New York when I was in college. You get a knack for it.'

Andrea continued to watch, fascinated as she heard the auctioneer finally slow down and pick up his little gavel.

'Eleven-six going once...madam, going twice...sold! To the gentleman on the mobile phone in the front row. Will the gentleman be persuaded to add an autograph for a thousand dollars, two for two thousand or...oh, well, ladies and gentlemen the bidder has agreed to add three thousand dollars to the auction price for autographs and a photograph with the model and author!'

There was a great burst of impressed applause and just as Andrea had lifted her hands to join in, Sloan was grabbing her arm to tug her forward. 'Come on, let's go see who paid nearly fifteen grand for your picture!'

They darted and wove around the bodies, and when they found the man, Andrea watched as Sloan changed from excited artist to star-struck young woman. 'Oh my god, Spencer! What are you doing here?'

'Hey, Sloan!' The man, who to Andrea's way of thinking could have passed for Idris Elba's equally sexy younger brother, gave her a shining smile, tucked his cellphone in his breast pocket. 'I thought you'd be up there running this show.'

'Nah, I'm leaving that to the pros, but seriously what are you doing here?'

'Milly is in New Zealand and asked me to buy the auction item, whatever it was whatever price. She says hello by the way and will bring you a present.'

'Oh, that's so sweet of her. Right.' Sloan closed her eyes, pressed her index finger between them. 'Spencer, this is Andrea. Andrea, this is Spencer Berry. His wife is Millicent Berry.'

'The supermodel?' Andrea squeaked.

'Yes, that one, and I can assure you she's just as human as everyone else,' Spencer laughed.

'And she paid nearly fifteen grand for my photo?'

Spencer nodded. 'She was horrified with how you were treated, because she gets a lot of the same.'

'How could she possibly get the same? She's taller than me and way skinnier.'

'Exactly. She was always told she looked like Skeletor in designer clothes or a well-dressed toothpick with tiny little boobs. It goes both ways.'

'Huh.' This had rarely occurred to Andrea; growing up with two sisters who always emphasized thinner equaled better in every possible way, the notion that someone thought of themselves as too skinny was mystifying. The thought was crushed by another, more important matter. 'So, does that mean since she is the highest bidder, I get to meet her and give her my autograph?'

'Yes it does.'

Sloan watched Andrea take out her iPhone, tap at the screen. 'Whatcha doin', Andrea?'

'Checking Weather-Net to make sure hell hasn't actually frozen over.'


	25. Secret Keepers

'Mama!'

With her head still spinning over the prospect of meeting a real live supermodel Andrea turned around and saw Nessa running over; she caught her little girl seconds before Daniel and Heddie arrived with the rest of the Esposito clan. 'Hey, there's my sweet pea, and my little owl.'

'Mama, we heard everyone saying your picture was sold for a whole lotsa money,' Nessa said proudly. 'That's because they want to see you and love you every day just like me and Daddy and Heddie.'

'We lucky,' Heddie agreed, then looked over at Meredeth, who'd joined them. 'Me-wee, now 'pise time?'

'Please, Mami?' The twins chorused.

'We been so good!' Max added, his blue eyes magnified behind his glasses. 'No figh'in', no nas'y words, we liddle an-shells!'

'Oh, I suppose,' Meredeth pretended to sigh, then looked at Tessi. 'It was your idea, princess.'

'Okay.' Tessi let go of Esposito hand and went over to Nessa, wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders. 'You and Heddie are coming to our house for a sleepover tonight.'

'Really?'

'Really, really,' Tessi replied with a smile. 'We are gonna have barbecue and corn on the cob, and two kinds of salad, and then we are gonna take Tortuga to the park tomorrow morning to play soccer.'

'She love her ball,' Max agreed, sidling closer to Nessa; she always smelled pretty in his mind, like grape juice and sunshine.

'Tessi, you missed the best part!' Trini told her big sister, rolled her eyes as only a younger sibling could. 'Heddie, Nessa, we are going to have a fancy movie night.'

'Whassat?' Heddie asked as Daniel put her on her feet so she could toddle towards Trini.

'That means we are going to have early dinner, so that when it's time for pyjamas, we get to have fancy popcorn and arribas!'

'_Arepas_, Trini,' Esposito laughed, then looked at Andrea. 'What time you want us to pick them up?'

'Oh, I don't know. Daniel?' Andrea looked at her husband, who looked suspiciously innocent and extra thoughtful. 'What time do you think would be good?'

He checked his watch, calculated. 'Well, it's almos two now, so maybe three?'

'Three? An hour? It'll take us at least fifteen to get back home,' Andrea reminded him.

'Gee, if only someone had planned ahead, so the girls just needed to pick up their back-packs. Oh, wait.'

'What did you do?' Andrea giggled, but it was Nessa and Heddie who wrapped their arms around their mother.

'Daddy say gotta 'pise Mama!' Heddie chirped, wiggling excitedly. She'd been so nervous being the youngest one she'd spill the beans but it had all gone perfectly so now all that pent up energy needed to get out. 'You 'pise?'

'I am surprised because I don't know when Daddy had time to work this all out.'

'That's our little secret, Mama,' Nessa said and wrinkled her nose, her eyes shutting in her attempt to wink at her father conspiratorially. She patted Max and Tessi's shoulders. 'I gotta go give her a hug.

Her friends let her go and Nessa sighed happily when her mother took her into her arms. 'You're the best mama ever.'

'Aw thanks baby.'

'No! I baby gil!' Heddie marched over, jabbed her finger in Nessa's ribs, making her squeak. 'Ah-cuse me, I baby!'

'You're both my babies,' Andrea said, giving Heddie her turn now.

'Love you Mama.'

'I love you too, both of you, so much.'

'Daddy too?'

'Daddy too,' she agreed, and to prove it, she gave Daniel a hug and juicy kiss; as luck would have it Honey-Milk, Ryan and their kids chose that moment to come over to say their goodbyes for the day. Once more, Dell made a sour face and groused, 'Man, why does everyone have to be like that all the time? It's gross.'

'Dell, enough,' Ryan told him sternly.

'But-'

'Enough.'

'Fine,' Dell huffed out, and went over to talk to Tessi, leaving Andrea and Daniel both baffled.

'What is with him today, Jenny?' Daniel asked in bewilderment. 'He's like doppelganger-evil-twin Dell.'

'He's eleven years old and what does every eleven year old boy get excited about? Boobs, naturally, the more the better and the more naked the better,' Ryan said, answering his own question, 'and yet seeing his mother in a nude art study, as someone other than Mama, well, that's a hard battle for hormones.'

'I can imagine,' Daniel said dryly.

'So, enjoy tonight. I'm sure you'll have fun.'

'What's tonight?' Andrea asked, and caught Daniel mouthing something to Ryan out of the corner of his eye. 'What? What's tonight?'

'Oh, just a little something Daniel has up his sleeve for you, Andrea,' Jenny said, wrapping her hand around Ryan's bicep and giving it a subtle squeeze to tug him away. 'If you're almost done ruining Daniel's plans, we have to go find Lanie and Dave to make our own plans for tonight.'

'Right, better go before I finish putting my foot in my mouth and can't walk away.'

Andrea watched them go, and since she had a little privacy with her daughters talking to their friends five feet away, she turned to Daniel, wrapped her arms around his waist. 'What's on for tonight?'

'I could tell you, but that would rather ruin it, wouldn't it?'

'Daddy!' Nessa raced back over to her parents, okay with the funny little feeling in her tummy when she saw them with their arms around each other. 'Daddy, enough mooshing! We have to get home so you can give Mama the rest of her surprise!'

'No! No missin' 'pise!' Heddie howled, and tugged on her parents' hands. ' 'Mon! Time-a go!'

'Guess that's your cue,' Meredeth laughed. 'We'll be by on the way home to pick up the girls.'

'And then do I get to know about this surprise?' Andrea asked, and Daniel winked.

'Absolutely.'


	26. Private Viewing

As promised, within the hour Nessa and Heddie had their pre-packed overnight bags ready to go so that when Meredeth met them at the door, they were ready to go. They gave their parents hugs and kisses, telling them they loved them and they hoped Andrea loved the rest of her surprise from Daniel as Nessa and Heddie crammed their feet into the sandals.

'Bye Mama, love you!' Heddie called as they went down the hallway to the elevator.

'See you in the morning! Or tomorrow!' Nessa added. 'Love you!'

Andrea waved them off, then closed the door to look at her hubby. 'Alright, Daniel Josiah, what did you do?'

'I asked our friends to help me out with planning a special night for my wife, Andrea Darcy Hermione,' he replied, walking over to her. 'And since we know our girls are taken care tonight, perhaps you can tell me what this parcel is all about.'

Andrea looked at the small square box that had been signed-for by their superintendent just half an hour before they got home. 'I have no idea.'

'Well, let's open it up.'

She did so, and found inside a small parcel wrapped in red and green paper with silver ribbon and a white card envelope. Curious, she opened the card first and felt the smile spread before she'd even finished the first word.

' 'Dear Andrea, surprise! You get to keep everything in here, and I do mean everything. Love and kisses, Sloan Machado, almost Sloan Channing.P.S. passcode is your birthday.' What did that girl do?' she said with a shake of her head, already tearing into the paper.

It was an iPad, a toy Andrea didn't already have for reasons unknown, and not just an iPad a state of the art hot off the presses model too. Andrea's was black with a decorative acrylic cover stamped with tropical fish. 'She knows her audience.'

'This is her idea of a thank-you gift?' Daniel whistled. 'That's a nice friend.'

'It's not just a thank you gift,' Andrea murmured, finding the power switch and entering the digits zero-six-two-eight when the security screen asked for the PIN. She tapped the icon for the photo albums and grinned when she saw two - one labeled 'Andrea Exhibit' and the other 'Andrea's Pictures - Daniel's Eyes Only'. 'Come with me, baby.'

'Where are we going?'

'Just over here.'

Andrea lead him into the living room, shoved the coffee table out of the way, then sat on the floor and patted the space beside her. 'Come, join me in something that will end in very hot living room floor sex.'

'Really? How can you be so certain?'

'Trust me. This is my little surprise for you.'

Daniel gave her a look, but since he'd planned a night for her he knew turnabout was fair play. He plunked himself down beside her craned his neck to see the iPad. 'What am I looking at?'

'Okay, you know we did individual photoshoots this year, right?'

'Uh-huh.'

'Well, what Sloan had us all keep secret was that she did some racy boudoir shots just for our men. Sloan let us see everyone's pictures, boudoir shots included, when we had that private screening last night.'

'So...' Daniel pursed his lips, hoping this was going where he thought it was. 'There's pictures of you on here? Naked, uncovered, I get to see everything they didn't in the exhibit pictures?'

'Exactly.'

'Hang on a minute.'

Daniel got to his feet, taking Andrea's hand in his he pulled her up with him. He stripped off his shirt, had her do the same while he removed his shorts and his boxers. 'You can stay in your bra and panties, since if these are the kind of pictures I'm praying they are, I want to get you naked myself in a bit.'

'Okay,' she laughed, then sat back down beside him as he cleared his throat and he picked up the tablet once more. He tapped the Daniel's-Eyes-Only album icon and Andrea had the sheer feminine joy of watching him swallow tightly when he saw the first one - it was the picture of her on the full love-seat; she'd propped one foot on the back of the love-seat while the other was pointed daintly at the floor, and Andrea turned dreamy, sexy eyes towards the window letting in natural light. One hand rested on her head while the other was low on her belly, leaving her lush round breasts completely uncovered and Andrea remembered how she'd given a little shiver at a sudden blast of cool air in the warm studio, making her nipples stiffen at the sudden change in temperature.

'So?' Andrea asked him, noticing how one hand was drifting up and down his thigh. 'You like it?'

'How many more are there?'

'Nine.'

'Nine? And they're all different?'

'Mm-hmm.' She pursed her lips, pecked his cheek. 'Enjoy, lover.'

Andrea watched him flip through the pictures, each one making him a little hotter, a little hotter until she could see he was fighting the urge to put the device aside but she wanted him to see the one she was most proud of. Finally when they got to it - Sloan had even titled it _Pearls and High-Heels_, Daniel could only stare.

'Those are the same pearls, too,' Andrea told him, 'Sloan got them in an Internet auction and-'

She was cut off when Daniel tossed the iPad onto the couch and crushed his mouth against hers. His lips were hot, hungry, seeking as he pulled her closer against him.

'Andrea, you are the sexiest woman alive,' he told her as he feast on her, touching and tasting everywhere. His fingers fumbled a little in his eagerness to unsnap her bra but he managed to do it and filled his hands with her breasts, thumbs scraping over her nipples. When she let out a surprised but pleasured moan Daniel twisted and rolled them so his gorgeous Andrea was underneath him, looking up at him as his hands roamed over her body, dragging her panties down her legs. 'And if I don't have you right now, I think I will actually lose my mind.'


	27. Sugar and Spice

_Hello everyone! This chapter is without a doubt 100% NSFW! Read with ice water and review!_

* * *

Andrea felt like she'd been set on fire; she couldn't remember being this aroused so quickly in ages. Then she could hardly remember her own name as Daniel dragged her up so she was straddling him, the vee of her thighs snug against his body so he could feel how wet she already was for him.

'Damn, girl,' he moaned in her ear as his hands kneaded her bottom, cupping and squeezing and holding her close against him while her hips rocked so subtly agsinst him Daniel almost felt like a virgin on prom night - one wrong move and it woudl be over way too soon. 'You're so good at that, baby.'

'At this?' Andrea put her mouth to his, arched her body so her hips rockaway from his; Daniel tumbled them both back to the floor and she let her legs fall open. 'Daniel, baby, I want-'

'I know exactly what you want,' he cut her off, and he had the thrill of actually seeing her shudder in pleasure when he ran a hand down the centre of her body to touch her. He watched her eyes glazed as he slipped one finger, then two, inside her then drew them out slowly. 'No? Perhaps this, then.'

He moved like lightening and before Andrea could get her breath back, his hands were on the insides of her thighs and his tongue was on her slick, heated lips; the move had her moaning his name loudly, for there was no other way to tell him how good it felt.

'Daniel!'

Daniel grinned against her body, flicking his tongue, dipping and swirling as her hips moved against the floor. He lifted his head once, saw his beautiful wife propped on her elbows, her head thrown back with her smoky eyes closed as she said his name again and again. Though he knew plunging his tongue inside her would give her an orgasm beyond her wildest dreams, he instead stayed caressing her flesh until her found her trigger and all but made her scream when she came as he flicked the sensitive little nub with his tongue.

Andrea thought she was going to lose her mind; she knew she and her smoking-hot husband had a good and healthy sex life, but there was healthy and then there was...this. Though she was certain the avalanche of sensation had melted every bone in her body, she somehow found the energy to pull her husband up so she could kiss him; he knew how hot it got him when she would kissing him after he went down on her and she wanted no time to think, to be loving and tender. Not this time, at least.

'Daniel, now,' she moaned against his mouth. 'Now.'

'Yes, my love. How?'

'From behind.'

Daniel nodded, saw the lust ripe and full in her eyes. He would take her how he wanted to, how she wanted to be taken. With his hands on her hips, he flipped her over so her gorgeous juicy booty bumped against him, teasing him. He watched her reach between her leg, find him to guide him in just enough; then he was filling her, rough and deep so that Daniel's head swam with the low gutteral sound of pure pleasure she made.

'Again.' Andrea heard her voice, the whimper of delight in her breathy demand. 'Again, Daniel.'

He plunged into her once more, and again and again, her hips moving in double time as he drove her up until he heard her moaning she was coming. Daniel felt her clench around him, tremble under his touch, and when he felt her body tense once more as the second orgasm built inside her, he closed his eyes and listened to her say his name again and again as he came with her.

They lay sprawled on the living room floor, the only sound to be heard their laboured breathing as they tried to come back to Earth. Numbly, Andrea rolled to her back and wasn't surprised when Daniel came to snuggled against her body. Sometime later - neither one of them were sure how long it was - Daniel finally spoke.

'Andrea?' he mumbled against her breast.

'Yeah, Daniel.'

'Remember when you came home a little plowed the night of the kick-off party for the summer arts festival?'

'Be more specific.'

'You said that all the guys would be jealous of me being so lucky as to be the one who gets to fuck you almost everyday.'

Andrea's chuckle was low and throaty. 'Oh yes, I remember that, and we followed it up with some very point-proving sex.'

'I think we just re-proved that point. Jesus, that was awesome.'

Daniel lifted his head and kissed his wife's lips tenderly, a loving contrast to the loud animalistic sex they'd just had. 'And that's only part one of our night.'

'Yes, plesae before I die of curiosity or kill you in the process, what is this magical night you have planned.'

'Nothing major you know,' Daniel shrugged casual then split into a devilish grin. 'Just dinner drinks and dancing on the patio at the Sayuri Tea House.'

Andrea gasped in part disbelief, part excitement. 'Seriously?'

'Seriously.'

'But they're booked like three months in advance!'

'And I called three months ago. June fifteenth to be exact.'

Her heart filled with warm bright light for her husband. 'You pack up the kids for a night for you and me time, then bang me senseless like we're teenagers, then you surprise me with fancy dinner at my favourite Japanese restaurant. No wonder I love you so much, Daniel.'

'I love you so much right back, Andrea.' He rolled them, then looked around. 'Hey, I have a question.'

'Yes.'

'Where did the iPad go?'

Andrea laughed. 'You put it on the couch. Good thing we didn't use that, or we might have shattered the poor thing.'

'I think we should put this into the toy-box,' Daniel decided. 'It could come in handy again.'

'I agree. Now, to shower.'

'Together?' Daniel asked hopefully and this time, there was tenderness in the kiss she gave him.

'I wouldn't have it any other way.'


	28. Just the Way You Are

_Hello all! Hope you've enjoyed this one! The next one coming up goes back to a case-file and I'm sure you'll love it because not only is it a case-file story it also includes a wedding! As always, read share and review!_

* * *

'Andrea, I gotta ask, doesn't that ever worry you?'

'What?'

Daniel adjusted the knot of his tie, watched Andrea shimmy into her dress and pointed at her navel ring - she'd opted for a decorative barbell with a flower burst sitting dead centre of her belly button. 'Don't you ever worry about snagging that on your clothes when you pull them on?'

Andrea slipped the straps of her dress over her shoulders. 'That's my sexy little secret.'

'Right up there with reindeer panties.'

She narrowed her eyes at him even as she smiled. 'You'll never let that one go, will you?'

'Never.'

Daniel grinned at the memory of the first time he'd gotten Andrea out of her clothes; it had been after their fourth date and they'd gone back to his place when they'd been fooling around. Andrea had completely forgotten rather than date-night panties she'd been wearing pearl-grey cotton undies with the image of a reindeer sporting Christmas ornaments on his antlers. He'd been so completely charmed by them while she'd been completely flummoxed and embarrassed - until she'd watched him strip to his underwear too and saw he was actually wearing SpongeBob boxers his nephew Nate had given him.

He stood up from the end of his bed as Andrea put her shoes on and he held out his arm to her. 'My lady,' he told her regally, making Andrea laugh and smile.

'Good sir.'

* * *

The Sayuri Tea House was Andrea's favourite restaurant in Manhattan because it reminded her of her favourite restaurant when she'd lived in Tokyo in both layout and menu. As with many Manhattan bistros, they offered fancy and exclusive dining options during the summer on roof-top terraces and they couldn't have picked a better summer night for such a luxurious indulgence. The air smelled of good fresh food and the somehow sweetly-scented air that only a true New Yorker could appreciate.

Daniel and Andrea were shown to their seats in a fairly private corner of the patio, and when Andrea anticipated being shown the traditional menu, instead the waiter simply poured them ice cold nihonshu, the way they both liked it before disappearing again.

'What, we don't get menus?' Andrea asked, pouting a little as she pointed after the waiter. Part of the fun of experiencing the Sayuri tea house was getting to build a meal out of all the little delicacies.

'No, we're getting a preset menu.'

'How-'

'I know my girl,' was all he said, and Daniel took her fingers in his, raised them to his lips. 'I'm so proud of you, Andrea.'

'Why?'

'For being you, for not taking that crap from those fucking idiotic fashion critics and letting it get the better of you. You gave them all the finger by doing those photos for Sloan, you know. Come Monday morning, those idiots are going to be kicking their asses over the severe errors in judgment they made talking about you like that.'

'I know. Did you see how good my ass looked in the one, _Sleepy Sunday_? The one where I'm-'

'Lying on the bed, oh yeah. That's what you looked like the first time we made love.'

'RJ's birthday,' Andrea murmured. 'We'd just woken up from a nap after coming home from being there for Kate while she brought her son into the world, and it was like it was something we did all the time. Why do you suppose it wasn't awkward between us the way it is for some couples the first time they have sex?'

'I think because we were already so used to fooling around after shift to get it out, it was just like taking it one more step.' Daniel, still holding her hand, twisted his wrist so their fingers could link together. 'The way you looked at me, the way you sounded so sleepy and happy when I was still inside you, I knew. I knew you were it for me.'

'Oh, Daniel.'

'Here. I got you a little something.' Daniel reached into his breast pocket of his jacket, pulled out a slim square box. 'Just thought you'd like it.'

'What did you do?'

'Just a little silly something, thought you might like it for next year.'

Andrea lifted the lid, smiled. He'd gotten her a new belly ring, a barbell because he knew she liked those better, with an X crusted in little red crystals. 'Does this mean X marks the spot?'

'No, this means you come with your own X-rating, you know, for when you do more bedroom just-me pictures again,' he replied with a twinkle in his eye. 'Seeing you with just this, your wedding rings and a smile in pictures like that again would be a dream come true.'

'If I'd know you were this turned on, I'd have suggested it the second year we did the exhibit.'

'Why not the first?'

'I was so close to popping, I don't think I would have liked how I look.'

'Fair enough.'

Andrea looked around, brow furrowed in confusion. 'I thought we're supposed to be getting food.'

'In a moment. Look.'

Daniel pointed to where a young Japanese man with an acoustic guitar had set himself up on one side of the patio; he plucked a few notes out before he launched into a Jack Johnson song and Andrea watched some of the diners actually get up and start to dance. 'I didn't know that was an option here.'

'In the summer, yeah. Wait here.'

Daniel got up, walked over to the young man and discreetly slipped him a large tip as he murmured a request to him once his first song was done. When Andrea saw the man nod and begin the next song, she recognized it immediately and felt her heart swell. He walked over to her, pulled her to her feet.

'This is the rest of my surprise for you,' he murmured in her ear, then because it was just an acoustic guitar Daniel filled in the missing lyrics. 'When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change, cause you're amazing, just the way you are.'


End file.
